Canada's top court to hear appeal of ruling ordering government to ask Gitmo detainee's return
TORONTO
The Supreme Court of Canada agreed Friday to hear the government's appeal of a lower court ruling directing it to ask the U.S. to repatriate a Toronto man who is the last Western detainee held at Guantanamo Bay.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has steadfastly refused to request the return of Omar Khadr, saying the United States legal process must play itself out. The three opposition parties, who make up a majority in parliament, however, are calling for his return.
Canada's Conservative government is seeking to reverse a ruling last month by the Federal Court of Appeal, upholding a lower court decision ordering the government to seek Khadr's return.
The Supreme Court, as is customary, provided no reason for its decision. The hearing will take place Nov. 13.
Khadr is one of the youngest people ever charged with war crimes. He was 15 when he was accused of killing an American soldier with a grenade during a 2002 battle in Afghanistan.
Khadr, the son of an Egyptian-born father and Palestinian-born mother, is now 22, and his lawyer has said he would be willing to face prosecution in Canada and undergo a transition period away from his relatives, who have Canadian citizenship but have been linked to al-Qaida.
His father, Ahmed Said Khadr, was an alleged al-Qaida militant and financier, killed by Pakistani forces in 2003. A brother, Abdullah Khadr, is being held in Canada on a U.S. extradition warrant, accused of supplying weapons to al-Qaida. Another brother has acknowledged the family stayed with Osama bin Laden.
The father was arrested in Pakistan in 1995 after a bombing of the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad, but was released after former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien appealed to Pakistan to give him due process. Canada was embarrassed when he later emerged as a senior al-Qaida figure.
Chretien's former Liberal government and Harper's current government have refused to ask for the son's return from Guantanamo since.
The Obama administration is reviewing Guantanamo cases to determine whether the remaining prisoners should be tried in U.S. courts or released to other countries.
"It is in our interest to wait for the outcome of these decisions," the Canadian government repeated in a statement released Friday.
In April, a judge ruled Canada's refusal to request Khadr's repatriation offends fundamental justice and violates his constitutional rights.
Canada's Court of Appeal dismissed the government's appeal of that decision earlier this month in a majority 2-1 decision.
Khadr's lawyers contend Canada was complicit in his alleged torture and maintain Harper is obliged under international law to demand the prisoner's return.
Canadian officials questioned Khadr at Guantanamo and shared the results of their interrogations with the U.S.
Khadr has received some sympathy from Canadians, but his family has been widely criticized.
