Daily Record

Hisconvict­ions

DUNDEE MAN’S QUEST TO RELEASE CHILD SOLDIER

- ANNIE BROWN a.brown@dailyrecor­d.co.uk

prime minister Stephen Harper and his Conservati­ve government.

Now bail has been secured for Omar, who has moved in with Dennis, his wife Patricia and their sons, Cameron, 25, and Duncan, 20.

Omar was raised in Canada but his father Ahmed was an alleged al-Qaeda member, who took him to live in Pakistan and Afghanista­n in the 90s.

His father drew him into jihadism and embroiled him in a gunfight in Afghanista­n in 2001 in which Omar allegedly threw a grenade that killed an American soldier.

Dennis has long argued that he should have been treated as a child soldier, not tortured through waterboard­ing, rape threats, crucifixio­n and beatings into a confession he later retracted.

Omar, now 28, has spent almost half his life in prison and this young man, who once stayed in Osama bin Laden’s compound, is adjusting to life in suburban Canada.

Dennis said: “He can look forward to a loving household and a solid family. It’s not a bad place to start.”

The Edney home is in the town of Edmonton, an upper-class suburban house with wooden sidings and a wicker chair on its porch.

This life is paid for by a successful law career, and is a contrast to his early days, coming from a poor home in Lochee, Dundee.

After leaving at 17, he travelled the world and played lower league football in San Francisco before setting up trucking and constructi­on firms in Canada.

When the economy dived in the 80s, his companies struggled, and he took up law.

He was 35 when he went to university in Newcastle before moving to Canada to set up a legal practice.

He is a recipient of the 2008 National Pro Bono Award and of the 2009 Human Rights Medal.

The first present Dennis and Patricia bought Omar after his release was a bike.

Dennis, 68, said: “I used to talk to him about cycling and the sense of freedom you get, just being able to take off to anywhere you want.

“There was something symbolic about him cycling down a pathway on his own, without any bars in the way, without being chained or limited in what he was doing. Now we can’t get him off that bike.”

He is under a curfew and Dennis’s supervisio­n. The lawyer has received more than 1000 emails of support from around the globe.

In Canada, the case has attracted intense debate and scrutiny from commentato­rs and the media.

In the years Dennis has been fighting his case, the government had refused Omar the right to give interviews or to be seen in public. But on his release, he gave a press conference in front of the Edney home and declared he would show Canada’s people he is a “good person”.

Dennis said: “The government demonised him. The game breaker was Omar himself, when the Canadian people saw him for themselves. Overwhelmi­ngly, they liked what they saw.”

The sacrifices of Dennis and his family have been many but his life’s work has been to show that “human rights are non-negotiable”.

It has been an exhausting journey that caused him to miss the graduation of both his sons because he was at Guantanamo with Omar.

He added: “I gave up a lot of earnings but I did it pro bono because I wanted to send a message to the world about Guantanamo Bay, that this was a young man who was abused and taken advantage of.”

Omar’s father died in 2003, without answering the many questions his son says he would like to ask him, chiefly why he drew him into jihad and why he abandoned him.

Some of his family live in Canada but Dennis has been clear that his home is not open to the Khadrs.

Now Omar has a community, he has structure and he has a place at a university with an ambition to become a doctor.

During his incarcerat­ion, he was at first not allowed books but when that was relaxed, Dennis called professors, who volunteere­d to tutor him.

Dennis said: “In the years that I have known him, he has never expressed anger. He is very measured.

“The vast majority of people who have been tortured find an inner compassion.”

Canada’s supreme court found the country had been complicit in his torture alongside the CIA in the US.

This week, Dennis won the case in the supreme court that Omar should have been treated as a juvenile.

He said: “This is not a government that wants to listen to the courts.

“It is not embarrasse­d when it loses time and time again.”

He added: “Omar is out but the fight continues.”

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Omar, 15, and, above, the Edneys’ house
CHILD Omar, 15, and, above, the Edneys’ house
 ??  ?? INHUMAN Prisoners are cuffed and masked on arrival at Camp X-Ray in 2002. Main photo, Dennis. Pic: Reuters/Todd Korol
INHUMAN Prisoners are cuffed and masked on arrival at Camp X-Ray in 2002. Main photo, Dennis. Pic: Reuters/Todd Korol

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