U.S. top court rejects appeal by Khadr
• The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by a Canadian-born former Guantanamo detainee who was seeking to wipe away his war crimes convictions, including for killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan.
Omar Khadr had waived his right to appeal when he pleaded guilty in 2010 to charges that included murder. But his lawyers argued that a subsequent ruling by the federal appeals court in Washington called into question whether Khadr could have been charged with the crimes in the first place.
A divided three-judge panel ruled that, despite the appellate ruling, Khadr gave up his right to appeal.
Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson did not take part in the
Supreme Court's consideration of Khadr's appeal because both had dealt with the case while they served as appeals court judges. Jackson explained her recusal; Kavanaugh did not.
Khadr had been sentenced to eight years in prison plus the time he had already spent in custody, including several years at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He was released
in May 2015 pending his appeal of the guilty plea.
A Canadian judge ruled in 2019 that his war crimes sentence had expired.
Khadr was 15 when he was captured by U.S. troops following a firefight at a suspected al-qaida compound in Afghanistan that resulted in the death of an American special forces medic, U.S. Army Sgt. First Class Christopher Speer. Khadr, who was suspected of throwing the grenade that killed Speer, was taken to Guantanamo and ultimately charged with war crimes.
Khadr pleaded guilty in 2010 to throwing the grenade that killed Speer. In exchange, it was agreed he would be returned to Canada after a year to serve the remainder of an eight-year sentence. Khadr later appealed to the U.S. Court of Military Commission Review, claiming he pleaded guilty because it was his only way out of Guantanamo, where he says he was subject to “coercive and abusive interrogations.”
After serving time in a Canadian prison, Khadr was released on bail pending appeal of the U.S. conviction and lived with his lawyer's family in Edmonton.