Lawyer wants world to see Gitmo interrogation

Source: Miami Herald/Associated Press


Lawyer wants world to see Gitmo interrogation
Posted on Thu, Jun. 26, 2008
By Associated Press

TORONTO -- A lawyer for a Canadian detainee at Guantánamo Bay says he expects to be able to release a video to the media of his client being interrogated by Canadian officials at the U.S. prison.

Nathan Whitling's announcement Thursday comes one day after a Canadian court ordered the prosecution to hand over the 2003 footage to Omar Khadr's defense team. The court also ruled that the U.S. military violated international laws against torture in its treatment of Khadr.

Whitling says the prosecution has 10 days to appeal. Whitling says his defense team will submit the video to the public if the appeal is rejected.

Khadr, 21, is scheduled for trial in October for allegedly lobbing a grenade that killed a U.S. Special Forces soldier following a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan. Khadr was 15.


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/584558.html

Judge orders Khadr footage released
Ruling suggests Canadians broke human-rights law during interrogation
KIRK MAKIN

JUSTICE REPORTER

June 26, 2008

A Federal Court of Canada judge has ordered Ottawa to hand over video footage of the 2003 interrogation of al-Qaeda suspect Omar Khadr to his defence team and, possibly, the news media.

In a ruling issued yesterday, Mr. Justice Richard Mosley also said that four Canadian officials appear to have violated international human-rights laws regarding the treatment of detainees when they interrogated Mr. Khadr at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre.

The ruling also indicated that U.S. officials were interested in whether Mr. Khadr could be returned to Canada for trial.

Judge Mosley specified that Canada "became implicated in the violation" of international law when one Foreign Affairs official taking part in interrogations in 2003 and 2004 was provided with material that U.S. authorities had obtained by mistreating Mr. Khadr, yet chose to go ahead with the interrogation.

More:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080626.KHADR26/TPStory/National

Khadr tortured at Guantanamo, judge reveals
Court gives federal files to defence
Andrew Mayeda, Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, June 26, 2008

Canadian officials knew that Omar Khadr was subjected to an interrogation practice at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that violated international law against the use of torture, a Federal Court judge revealed Wednesday, in deciding what evidence can be turned over to Khadr's lawyers.

The Supreme Court last month ordered the federal government to surrender files compiled by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Foreign Affairs and other government agencies and departments on Khadr, the Canadian accused of being an al-Qaeda terrorist and killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan in 2002.

Canada's top court ruled that Khadr had the right under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to inspect some of the evidence against him, and asked the Federal Court to sift through the files held by the government to determine what could be disclosed.

In a decision issued Wednesday, Judge Richard Mosley refused a request by several media organizations to publicly disclose all the evidence that will be provided to Khadr's lawyers.

Nevertheless, Mosley offered a tantalizing glimpse of what Canadian officials knew about how Khadr was treated at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay.

Khadr, who was born in Toronto, is expected to be tried later this year by a military commission.

More:
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=2e12cbfe-3b6c-4b18-bd6e-2dd3945f0c5a

This is just not needed. Canada also has troops throughout the world. If a single Canadian soldier is killed because some person decides on vengeance based on what he sees on this video, it is not worth it.

Torture is now acceptable. Might as well show how it's done.

Torture does nothing but create more terrorism. It terrorizes those inflicted and creates more animosity that then creates more terrorists. This helps put an end to it.

Anyone seeing what was done will re-think the purpose of torture itself. The only way to resolve problems is openly and honestly. Hiding stuff like this only serves criminals who don't want to be held accountable. I don't think this will piss off terrorists as much as the effort will show Canadians are trying to change such behavior by having an open, honest dialogue.

What is killing our soldiers is the secrecy and the lies that have lead each country up to this point. It needs to end!

If Canadians wanted to be safe, they shouldn't have tortured in the first place don't you think?

And don't you also think that not releasing it would inflame passions any less?

How can you support torture of 15 year olds?

Mosley said a paragraph in one of the documents, which had been blacked out by the federal government, contains information from a member of the U.S. military regarding "steps taken by Guantanamo authorities to prepare" Khadr for an interview with a Canadian foreign affairs official in March 2004.

"The practice described to the Canadian official in March 2004, was, in my view, a breach of international human rights law respecting the treatment of detainees," Mosley said.

Canada "became implicated" in violating international human rights when the foreign affairs official learned about Khadr's treatment but decided to interview him anyway, the judge said.

Mosley referred to a recent report in the U.S. describing harsh interrogation techniques used on Guantanamo detainees that would not have been permissible under American law and that are prohibited by the U.S. military.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/06/25/khadr-court.html

My reading of what is available is that Canada became complicit when it stayed quiet. Hopefully we shall learn more in a few days.

how about less "hide it under the rug" thinking and let's get some fresh air and honesty

back into America?

How about the criminals in the White House shouldn't have used torture and what you're

reciting is an excellent reason why!!!!

Yeah, OK.

Judge orders release of Khadr interrogation video
Updated: Thu Jun. 26 2008 05:47:51

CTV.ca News Staff

Videotaped footage of interviews by Canadian officials with Omar Khadr must be released to his defence team, a Federal Court of Canada judge has ruled.

The interviews were conducted over four days in February 2003 at Guantanamo Bay.

Khadr's lawyers claim the videotapes will assist them because "unclassified summaries and open source information" indicate their client is seen crying and asking Canadian officials for help on the tape.

He also apparently tells them that he had been tortured and shows them the scars left by his injuries.

"I will refrain from commenting on what the tapes reveal. However, I am satisfied that any content that may tend to support the applicant's allegations is relevant and should be disclosed to the applicant and his counsel for the purpose of his defence to the criminal charges," Judge Richard Mosley said in his ruling released late Wednesday.

Khadr was also interviewed by Canadian officials in September 2003 and March 2004. However, Mosley said he only has evidence that Canadian officials have recordings of the February 2003 interviews.

Last month, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Khadr has a constitutional right to material related to interviews conducted by Canadian officials at Guantanamo Bay.

More:
http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20080626/judge_Khadr_080626/20080626/?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

America has a Double Standard When It Comes to Kids. Victims if Prostitutes, Terrorists if They Are Caught Fighting the US
Submitted by dlindorff on June 26, 2008 - 9:44am.

By Dave Lindorff


Double standards when it comes to children are pretty
appalling—especially when it comes to “our” kids vs. “their” kids, but
here in America they aren’t limited to just right-wingers.

Take reaction to the US Supreme Court’s latest ruling that you
cannot execute rapists—even those who rape children—on the theory that
only killing someone justifies execution.

Politicians who make their careers by promoting state sponsored
murder have been quick to condemn this latest “liberal outrage” by
calling for more laws that would make execution the punishment for
raping a child (admittedly a monstrous crime).

"Anybody in the country who cares about children should be outraged
that we have a Supreme Court that would issue a decision like this,"
says Republican Alabama Attorney General Troy King, who said the
court’s 5-4 decision makes America “a less safe place to grow up.”

More:
http://www.democrats.com/node/17014

War is an abomination, and I don't think this kid should have had any part in it, but if this was in combat, as it seems, shouldn't he be a POW? Yeah, I know the torture administration doesn't care about things like that, but how can they argue that he's anything other than a soldier? He didn't come to the US and blow up a bridge or a mailbox or anything.

All we've seen is the computer-generated Second Life guy being tortured with animated water.