Khadr not a high risk, says arbiter
Prison ombudsman scolds authorities
TORONTO Prison authorities ignored favourable information in unfairly branding former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr as a maximum security inmate, according to Canada’s prison ombudsman.
In a recent letter to a top prison official obtained by The Canadian Press, the Office of the Correctional Investigator urges another look at Khadr’s classification.
“The OCI has not found any evidence that Mr. Khadr’s behaviour while incarcerated has been problematic and that he could not be safely managed at a lower security level,” the letter states.
“I recommend that Mr. Khadr’s security classification be reassessed, taking into account all available information and the actual level of risk posed by the offender, bearing in mind his sole offence was committed when he was a minor.”
In his letter, Ivan Zinger, executive director of the independent Office of the Correctional Investigator, calls the case “unique and exceptional.”
He says Khadr has shown no evidence of problematic behaviour while in Canadian custody and notes the Americans had categorized him as minimum security.
The classification is important as it affects Khadr’s dayto-day prison existence, such as his access to programs, as well as on his potential for parole.
The Toronto-born Khadr, 26, spent a decade at the notorious U.S. prison on Cuba.
He was transferred to Canada last September to serve out the remainder of an eightyear sentence handed down by the U.S. military commission for war crimes he pleaded guilty to committing as a 15-year-old in Afghanistan.
He spent the next several months in segregation in Millhaven Institution west of Kingston, Ont., classified as a maximum-security inmate before his transfer to Edmonton Institution in late May.
Prison officials have defended the maximum-security classification, arguing among other things that Khadr poses a moderate escape risk and sparks high public-safety concerns.