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Omar Khadr

Media conference for "one of Canada's children" a bust

by Judi McLeod, Canadafreepress.com

Thursday, February 10, 2005

Lawyers have vaunted Omar Khadr, the 18-year-old Canadian citizen being held by the U.S. at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, into news headlines as a victim.

Edmonton attorney Dennis Edney held a Toronto media conference, yesterday for the only Canadian citizen at Guantanamo with his mother, grandmother and an american law professor in tow.

according to U.S. law professor Muneer ahmad, who had visited Khadr in November and co-authored a subsequent affidavit, the physical and mental abuse of Omar Khadr is "horrific", "immoral" and "illegal"

"We have evidence that one of Canada's children has been tortured by the United States, ahmad said.

With his mother weeping in the background and Edney demanding that the federal government fight more vigorously to protect Khadr's human rights, a fusillade of questions about the Khadr family's checkered past all but dominated the news conference.

Khadr may be "one of Canada's children" to Muneer ahmad. To many Canadians, he's the scion of a family, three members of who camped out at Osama bin Laden's terror training camps in afghanistan.

ahmed Said Khadr, the family patriarch--once set free from Pakistan by the intercession of Prime Minister Jean Chretien--was a well-known al Qaeda financier who raised four Toronto-born sons in the world of radical Islam.

It was in bin Laden's terror training camp that Omar Khadr was captured in July, 2002 after allegedly tossing a grenade that killed a U.S. army medic.

Khadr's outspoken mother and sister cried no tears for the fallen army medic.

Following Khadr's capture, his sister said the death of Sgt. 1st Class Christopher J. Speer was no "big deal". His mother, who said she would rather see her sons at al-Qaeda training camps than "be on drugs or having some homosexual relation" in Canada, insulted some Canadians.

Yesterday, Mrs. Khadr let her lawyer do the talking by reading a statement that asked "every Canadian mother and father to help me get justice for my son and bring him home."

Reporters wanted to know why Canadians should care about her son's plight in consideration of her family's open disdain for the West and their close ties to terrorism.

Edney responded with an admission that there is no doubt that there is a lack of sympathy toward the Khadr family, but chided inquiring reporters with, "It's the principle you're fighting for".

"We need to be very clear," ahmad, added. "The U.S. did not torture the Khadr family. They took the body of a boy and subjected it to horrific conditions. So how can we forget about that because of a history that the Khadr family has in the public conscience of Canada?"

With evidence that has yet to be proven, ahmad did not use the word "alleged" when he spoke about the U.S. subjecting Khadr's body to "horrific" conditions.

Dan McTeague, parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Foreign affairs, has conceded that Ottawa is still concerned that Khadr has been imprisoned for almost three years without being charged with a crime.

Sgt. 1st Class (ret.) Layne Morris, who was injured in the firefight that ended with Khadr's capture, is skeptical about Khadr's allegations of torture.

"The best defence is a good offence," he said yesterday, referring to al-Qaeda training manuals that urge members to allege abuse if they are arrested. "He might be youthful-looking, but he is certainly not youthful-acting. You don't get to afghanistan in a firefight with U.S. forces on a whim."


Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com


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