Canadian Gitmo prisoner refuses to defend himself, calls plea deal an ‘excuse’ for torture

[cory777]

Source: AFP

A young Canadian, the last Westerner held at the Guantanamo Bay, said Monday he would not defend himself after refusing a US plea deal, insisting his military trial was a sham.

"I will not take any of the offers because it'll give the US government an excuse for torturing me and abusing me when I was a child," Omar Khadr, 23, wrote to a military tribunal at the remote jail in Cuba.

He confirmed he had refused a plea deal under which he would only have to serve five years of a 30-year sentence if he admitted war crimes charges, which normally carry a life term.

Khadr's letter was made available on the Internet by Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald.

Read more: http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0712/canadian-gitmo-prisoner-refuses-defend-calls-plea-deal-excuse-torture/

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http://senselessworld-cory.blogspot.com/

[Dystopian]

1. KandR.

What a nightmare. Tragic and never-ending.


peace~

[Electric Monk]

2. The complexity of the Khadr case...

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/01/13/f-omar-khadr.html

His father, Ahmed Said Khadr, was identified by U.S. and Canadian intelligence sources as an associate of Osama bin Laden and a reputed financier of al-Qaeda operations. He was killed in October 2003 by Pakistani forces — a firefight that left a brother, Abdul Karim, paralyzed.

One of Omar's older brothers, Abdullah Khadr, is in jail in Toronto and is fighting a U.S. extradition request for alleged terrorism-related crimes. Another brother, Abdurahman, was arrested on suspicion of ties to al-Qaeda and spent time at Guantanamo Bay in 2003 before being returned to Canada.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/01/13/f-omar-khadr.html

[Heywood J]

4. Yes, no one has denied that other members of his family

have done bad things. All of that is immaterial to Omar's case, as we don't take their behavior into account when determining his, and we don't punish someone for the sins of the family. Not unless we want to be the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Members_of_Traitors_of_the_Motherland">new Soviet Union, complete with KGB.

[provis99]

5. right. we punish him for the murder of a US official he committed.

He's as rotten as the rest of his rotten family.

[Heywood J]

6. Proof, please.

He's yet to have a day in court, and all that's out there are accusations not tested in a court of law. Keep in mind that he was also 15 at the time, making him a child soldier (with all that legally entails). Are you also approving of the alleged torture he's received in Guantanamo since his capture?

Besides, wouldn't want this to get in the way of your hissy fit and prejudgment:

http://www.thestar.com/specialsections/omarkhadr/article/717885--omar-khadr-innocent-in-death-of-u-s-soldier?bn=1 (photos included at link)

Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr was buried face down under rubble, blinded by shrapnel and crippled, at the time the Pentagon alleges he threw a grenade that fatally wounded a U.S. soldier, according to classified photographs and defence documents obtained by the Star.

The pictures, which were taken following a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan and have never been made public, show the then 15-year-old Canadian covered in bricks and mud from the roof of a bombed compound.

The body of an adult fighter – the unnamed man Khadr's lawyers contend could have thrown the grenade that killed U.S. Sgt. Christopher Speer – lies beside him.

The photographs were part of an 18-page submission presented earlier this year by Khadr's former military defence team to an Obama administration task force investigating Guantanamo.

[ProudDad]

7. You mean defending himself against

a USAmerikan Terrorist who invaded his country?


(although according to the previous post he appears to be another person sucked up in the indiscriminate net put out by the USAmerikan Empire during their invasions of other countries for the crimes of the bush admin.)

[Amonester]

8. wrong. we don't punish cheney/bush and all his rotten family

for the torture of innocents (the war criminal still brags about it, sayin' he would not hesitate to do it all over again...), including children, and the murder of more than a hundred thousand innocent 'collateral damages' because? empire building?

money trumps peace (and justice, apparently...)

[Solly Mack]

3. K&R