Lawyers ‘pleased’ with Khadr transfer
A lawyer for former Guantanamo Bay inmate Omar Khadr says his client has been transferred out of a federal maximum security prison in Alberta.
John Phillips does not say where Khadr has been sent or when the move happened.
But a source tells The Canadian Press he was moved to Bowden Institution, a medium-security prison near the town of Innisfail.
The transfer had been expected for several weeks.
In a statement, Phillips says he hopes the move is a first step in getting Khadr the treatment he needs.
Khadr pleaded guilty in 2010 to five war crimes, including murder, for killing an American soldier in Afghanistan when he was 15.
The 27-year-old was being held at the federal maximumsecurity prison in Edmonton where he was serving the remainder of an eight-year sentence.
Khadr was transferred to Canada from a U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay in September 2012.
“As Omar’s counsel, Dennis Edney and I are pleased to see Canada finally acknowledge that Omar is not a dangerous individual,” Phillips said in the statement Tuesday.
“We trust that this is the first step by Canada in providing Omar with treatment that is appropriate for someone who is a former child soldier.”
Arlette Zinck, a professor at King’s University College in Edmonton, said talks are underway in the expectation that Khadr can take high school courses while he is at Bowden.
Bowden Institution is a medium-security prison with a minimum-security annex.