30/06/2006
Sheldon Alberts
CanWest News Service
WASHINGTON - Until 10 a.m. on Thursday, Sgt. Layne Morris believed he would be travelling to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, this September to testify against the Canadian teenager he believes tried to murder him in the summer of 2002.
But after the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision to strike down the Bush administration's terrorist tribunals, Morris said his hopes to see Omar Khadr face justice have been once again been put on hold. ''It is justice delayed. I don't think that's a good thing,'' said Morris, who was blinded in one eye by shrapnel during a four-hour firefight in southeastern Afghanistan on July 27, 2002. ''I think those tribunals could have provided a trial viewed as fair by most of the world. In that sense, I think it is unfortunate,'' he said in an interview from his home in Utah. Morris was set to be one of the U.S. military's star witnesses against Khadr, the 19-year-old Torontonian captured by U.S. forces that July afternoon. The Pentagon's Office of Military Commissions had charged Khadr, who was 15 when he was sent to the Guantanamo military prison, with conspiracy to attack civilians, aiding the enemy and attempting to murder Morris. Most seriously, he was charged with murdering U.S. special forces Sgt. Christopher Speer, 28, who was killed by a grenade during the battle. Although the Pentagon has not formally announced plans to disband the commissions, Khadr's lawyers said the Supreme Court decision gives it little choice ''It leaves the U.S. government in a bit of a bind as to what to do with him,'' Dennis Edney, one of Khadr's Canadian attorneys, said in an interview from Edmonton. ''It turns everything on its head.'' Both Edney and Muneer Ahmad, Khadr's U.S. civilian attorney, said they will urge the Canadian government to request their client be extradited to Canada. The previous Liberal government, and now the Conservatives, have never issued a formal protest about Guantanamo or the military tribunals established by President George W. Bush. ''It was never a courthouse,'' Ahmad said of the building on the Guantanamo military base where Khadr twice appeared for pre-trial hearings this year. ''They dressed it up to look like a court. They put up blue curtains and put up the presiding officer in a judge's room and gave him a gavel. This (Supreme Court) decision sees through the lie of the commission.'' While Ottawa has held discussions about returning Khadr to Canada if convicted, Edney said ''perhaps it's time for Canada to step up to the plate and, for the first time, voice its wish to have Omar tried in Canada.'' Foreign Affairs spokesman Rodney Moore on Thursday night referred questions about Khadr's possible extradition to the Department of Justice, which did not return phone calls. ''Officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs are presently reviewing the decision with a view to its impact on the existing proceedings against the Canadian detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Omar Khadr,'' Moore said. During his detention, Khadr has gone on brief hunger strikes and accused prison interrogators of abuse. With the military tribunal ruled invalid, it's unclear now whether Khadr's lawyers will have any legal recourse to pursue concerns about his health. ``Some people have said, `Doesn't this place Omar in limbo now that the commissions are thrown out?' The reality is that he never got out of limbo,'' Ahmad said, but ``it does make it more difficult for us to ascertain and safeguard his mental well-being.'' For his part, Morris said he would oppose Khadr's transfer to Canada. He said Canadians should feel little sympathy over the conditions Khadr faces at Guantanamo. ``It's almost laughable to hear them complain,'' he said. ``My sympathy is with Chris Speer and his wife and children.'' SOURCE: Canada.com |
