Guantanamo detainee starts trial at military tribunal

Canadian Omar Khadr, the youngest detainee in Guantanamo, faces life in prison for allegedly throwing a hand grenade that killed an American soldier in 2002, during the siege of an Al Qaeda compound in Khost city. He was 15 at the time of the incident.

The detainee denied responsibility for throwing the grenade. His US military lawyer Jon Jackson said the confessions were obtained under duress, by using torture during the eight years of his detention, first at Bagram Air base in Afghanistan and later at Guantanamo. Jackson sought the withdrawal of statements this week.

After the hearing for deliberation of his jury, Khadr’s Canadian civilian lawyer Denis Edney said the trip to the court house has been the first occasion in eight years for him to “feel human.”

Khadr was allegedly trained by Al-Qaeda, and joined a bomb-making network organised by Osama bin Laden. The 23-year lost vision in his left-eye and was seriously wounded while in Afghanistan.

Khadr was offered 30 years in prison, 25 of which to be carried out in Canada, in response for a guilty plea, but he refused.

During Tuesday’s court proceedings, five charges of murder, spionage, and acts of terrorism were called out against Khadr.
The judge instructed the 15 officers being interviewed that as jury members they should reach their conclusions "beyond a reasonable doubt" but that they would not need to rely on "mathematical certainty."

The Canadian’s trial is the first to be heard in tribunal court since Obama’s changes which give more rights to defendants.

There are now about 180 detainees left at Guantanamo, but the administration has yet to lay out a definitive timetable for closing the controversial facility.