Abdullah Khadr
Encyclopedia
Abdullah Ahmed Khadr (born April 30, 1981) is the oldest son of Ahmed Khadr and brother of Omar Khadr
who has been charged with war crimes before the Guantanamo military commission
.
He has admitted buying weapons for al-Qaeda
, but maintains that he was merely on friendly terms with its leaders due to his father's prominence, and not a member himself. He has said that he would "be the first one to stop" any potential attacks against Canada.
involved fast cars. In 1994, he was sent to Khalden training camp
along with his brother Abdurahman
, where he was given the alias Hamza. Omar Nasiri
later claimed to have met Abdullah in the camp's infirmary, where he had told Nasiri about witnessing Afghans in Khost
blown apart while trying to salvage an unexploded bomb, although Abdullah himself does not remember the encounter. The two brothers fought constantly at the camp, one day their argument became so heated that Abdullah pointed his AK-47
and Abdurahman his PPK handgun, at each other screaming, before a trainer stepped between them. In 1997, a dispute between the brothers was mediated by Abu Laith al-Libi
, who earned their confidence and respect telling them about Dubai
and Ferrari
s, later described as "really cool" by Abdurahman. When the family was leaving Nizam Jihad in 1998, Abdurahman and Abdullah fought over seating in the car, and the fight ended with the older Khadr chasing his brother around the car with an AK-47
screaming.
As the oldest son, Abdullah would often drive his crippled father around Pakistan. Following the American invasion of Afghanistan the family split up. In 2002, Zaynab took Abdulkareem to Lahore
where her two-year old daughter needed medical attention. The siblings were later joined by Abdullah, since he required surgery to remove cartilage
from his nose.
A Taliban spokesman said that the January 26, 2004 suicide bomber that killed Cpl. Jamie Murphy
in Kabul
was "Mohammed", the son of a Canadian supposedly named Abdulrahman Khadr. The similar names led some to speculate it had been Abdullah, the only son of the family whose whereabouts were unknown at the time. DNA
samples from the bomber later proved it wasn't Khadr.
Abdullah was interviewed for the 2004 documentary Son of al Qaeda
, and acknowledged attending the Khalden training camp
. But he said that a ten-year-old learning to fire an AK47 was as common in Afghanistan as it was for a Canadian child to learn to play hockey
. This statement was later used by Richard J. Griffin
to label Khadr as "one of the world's most dangerous men"
In 2000, he allegedly had contact with a "high level member of al-Qaeda" who took the 19-year old with him to purchase weapons for fighting against the Northern Alliance
militants and supplying an Afghan training camp
.
, and subsequently asked the 22-year-old Abdullah to help him procure weapons due to his experience several years earlier. Allegedly, Khadr procured weapons for his father, and became an arms dealer, selling weapons to other militants, earning himself about $5000 in profit on the transactions of approximately $20,000 worth of mortar rounds, landmines, grenades and AK-47 ammunition.
After his father's death in October 2003, Abdullah allegedly continued his trade in weapons.
Khadr also allegedly read the instruction manual for a GPS unit to determine its operation for militant friends in Pakistan who wanted to measure the distance between a local graveyard and a house he believed belonged to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz
. The house turned out to belong to President Pervez Musharraf
, and Khadr's friends were later arrested near the graveyard.
He is also alleged to have purchased a forged Pakistani passport for 30,000 rupees ($600), and to have given it to his sister Zaynab for safekeeping.
In October 2004, he was allegedly in the process of purchasing five Soviet 9K38 Igla Surface-to-air missile
s for $1000 apiece from a 29-year-old Pakistani member of Lakshar e-Taiba with whom he offered to split the profit upon selling the weapons for $5000 apiece to the same man who'd taught him how to acquire munitions in 2000.
for his capture. He was arrested on October 15, 2004. Four days after his capture, "agents of the United States", including an FBI agent, visited the "quasi-prison" to interview Khadr. The visits continued for seventeen days. Canada became aware of his capture in November, and details about the bounty on Khadr were initially hidden from the public, under claims it would threaten national security to admit the fact. However a Canadian October 19, 2004 memo describing the bounty was accidentally released in 2007. Reporters were warned not to publish the information, and the Globe and Mail newspaper took the government to court to fight the secrecy order. Justice Richard Mosley
ruled that the information could be made public in May 2008, stating "the fact that a foreign state paid a bounty for the apprehension of a Canadian citizen abroad and that Canadian officials were aware of it at an early state is also a matter in which the public would have a legitimate interest.
Pakistan allegedly offered to repatriate Khadr to Canada several weeks after his arrest, but Canadian officials refused and suggested Pakistan look into turning him over to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) instead.
In April 2005, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP) arranged for officers from Project A-O, including Richard Jenkins, to fly to Pakistan to question Khadr for three days, ostensibly to prove that they were a "self-sufficient intelligence agency". Abdullah stated that when he was about 14-years old, his father had purchased two pairs of walkie talkies from Abdullah Almalki
, although his lawyers later argued the statement had been made due to his mistreatment by Pakistani officials. He was also questioned about Amer el-Maati
, who he said had worked as a carpet salesman after al-Qaeda had refused to grant him a pension following a brain injury stemming from a 1992 car accident. Asked about Mahmoud Jaballah, Khadr said he only knew him as an Arabic tutor in Peshawar who went by the patronymic
Abu Ahmed. Asked about Toronto Imam Aly Hindy
, Khadr said that his son Ibrahim had briefly attended the Musab al-Surri Afghan training camp
several years prior to 9/11, a fact that Hindy has spoken about himself. The RCMP later resigned themselves to the fact that it was unlikely Khadr could be prosecuted under Canadian law, since any statements made following "mistreatment" by Pakistani officials would hold no weight in the courts.
In June 2005, Canadian officials believed that negotiations with Pakistan had succeeded, and removed Khadr from no-fly lists, hired guards to escort him, and issued Khadr an emergency passport, no. EC016094. He was scheduled to fly home aboard a British Airways
flight from Islamabad, scheduled to land in Toronto at 18:00, June 15, 2005. Canadian consular officials were "mystified" when he wasn't at the airport, and a note was immediately sent within the Foreign Affairs
office stating "Given subj[ect] is now not returning to Cda, grateful mission wld ask Pakistani authorities what happened, where he is, which authority is holding him, etc. etc, and a new consular visit asap".
In July, FBI agent Gregory T. Hughes and Diplomatic Security Service
agent Galen J. Nace interrogated Khadr for three days. On each day, Khadr waived any Miranda rights and agreed to speak with them. He repeated his earlier confession regarding his alleged training in Khalden, and purchasing munitions for the same "high level member of al-Qaeda" he had worked with in 2000.
Pakistan still refused to hand Khadr over to the United States, insisting he should be returned to Canada. On November 23, 2005, a Boston
court accepted prosecutor James B. Farmer's request for a request to extradite Khadr from Canada - and eight days later Canada agreed to take Khadr from Pakistan. The timing led critics to speculate that Canada was simply helping the United States get around Pakistan's refusal to hand over Khadr to American forces.
and others who interviewed him for 2.5 hours. Two days later, Khadr agreed to another interview with FBI agents in the presence of Shourie. Court documents confirmed that he and his sister Zaynab
were both under investigation by the RCMP for terrorism-related offences, though commentators expressed confusion why he wasn't facing any criminal charges under Canadian law. During his sixteen days of freedom in Canada, Khadr was under constant RCMP surveillance.
On December 17, 2005 Khadr was phoned by the Canadian police and asked to meet them at a nearby McDonalds' restaurant. When he arrived, he was arrested based on the Boston extradition order, while the RCMP insisted the arrest "had nothing to do with" Canadian police. His mother was also arrested after she hit a police officer present, while his brother Abdurahman took photos of the arrest with his camera phone
. The next day, Prime Minister
Paul Martin
spoke at length about Abdullah and other members of the Khadr family, reiterating that there was only one kind of Canadian citizenship, and that Abdullah, and the other members of his family were as entitled to all the legal protections as any other citizen.
Khadr was denied bail five days later by Justice Anne Molloy of Ontario's Superior Court of Justice
. Abdullah was represented by Nathan Whitling
, Dennis Edney
and James Silver
. He wore a black t-shirt reading "For the Future of Islam", and his grandmother Fatmah el-Samnah offered to act as his surety
, putting up her $300,000 house as collateral
. The motion for bail was opposed by prosecutor Robin Parker, who referenced American claims that the forged passport Khadr had purchased in Pakistan had been intended to allow him to flee to a country without an extradition treaty with the United States, Khadr's lawyers attempted to have a publication ban
bar media from reporting on the bail hearing. Prosecutor Robin Parker opposed this request for a publication ban, citing the open courts principle. Justice Molloy refused to order the publication ban, and ultimately denied bail. She found that there was an unacceptable risk that Khadr would flee, and also that the public confidence in the administration of justice would be undermined were she to grant Khadr bail. A second application for bail which was brought before Justice Gary Trotter was also refused.
On May 22, 2006, he was involved in a brawl with another inmate at Toronto West Detention Centre
over telephone privileges. He appeared in court shortly afterwards, where he was represented by attorney James Silver, and his extradition hearing was set to begin October 30.
On April 7, 2008, he appeared in a Toronto
court to argue against extradition to the United States, alleging that his confessions in Pakistan were obtained through torture.
Classified evidence was not shown to the public, but was shared with both Khadr and his lawyers, and judge Richard Mosley
wrote a private summary of the information it contained. Khadr argued that the evidence was simply what he had said to convince Pakistani captors to stop torturing him.
On October 5, 2009 Abdullah Khadr testified about his capture and treatment in Pakistan.
Colin Freeze, writing in the Globe and Mail, reporting on Abdullah's claims of torture, reported: "Ultimately, the judge will decide how to square Mr. Khadr's alleged admissions with such legal principles as the right to remain silent and the right to counsel, in determining whether any of his statements ought to count at all."
Isabel Teotonio, writing in the Toronto Star
, reported that Abdullah testified that he was beaten and "penetrated" by a rubber paddle during the fourteen months he spent in Pakistani extrajudicial detention
.
Following final arguments regarding the USA's request to extradite Khadr on April 7, 8 and 9, 2010, Ontario Superior Court Justice Christopher Speyer denied the extradition request on August 4, 2010 and Abdullah Khadr was set free after 4½ years.
Abdullah told reporters after his release. “I think this is going to be a new beginning for me in life.”
Michelle Shephard
, the Toronto Star
's national security expert, reported that Speyer's ruling was 62 pages long.
According to Shephard, while criticizing the $500,000 bounty the USA offered, and the abuse Abdullah suffered, Speyer wrote: “the rule of law must prevail over intelligence objectives.”
Dennis Edney
, one of Abdullah's lawyers, said, “When a U.S. government or any foreign government steps into a Canadian court they have to arrive with clean hands.”
The Canadian government appealed the courts decision but lost its case on May 7, 2011 when the highest court in Ontario confirmed unanimous in a 3-0 ruling the original judge's decision to deny the extradition request.
According to Nathan Whitling
another of Abdullah's lawyers, he is engaged to be married.
Omar Khadr
Omar Ahmed Khadr is a Canadian child soldier and one of the juveniles held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. He was convicted of five charges under the United States Military Commissions Act of 2009 including murder in violation of the law of war and providing material support for terrorism,...
who has been charged with war crimes before the Guantanamo military commission
Guantanamo military commission
The Guantanamo military commissions are military tribunals created by the Military Commissions Act of 2006 for prosecuting detainees held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps.- History :...
.
He has admitted buying weapons for al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
, but maintains that he was merely on friendly terms with its leaders due to his father's prominence, and not a member himself. He has said that he would "be the first one to stop" any potential attacks against Canada.
Life
As a child, Abdullah claimed his vision of JannahJannah
Jannah , is the Islamic conception of paradise. The Arabic word Jannah is a shortened version meaning simply "Garden". According to Islamic eschatology, after death, one will reside in the grave until the appointed resurrection on . Muslims believe that the treatment of the individual in the life...
involved fast cars. In 1994, he was sent to Khalden training camp
Khalden training camp
The Khalden training camp was a military training camp in Afghanistan. According to the documentary Son of al Qaeda there were hundreds of military training camps in Afghanistan which were tied to al Qaeda...
along with his brother Abdurahman
Abdurahman Khadr
Abdurahman Khadr is the third child of the Egyptian Canadian Khadr family, and was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, after being detained in Afghanistan under suspicion of connections to Al-Qaeda...
, where he was given the alias Hamza. Omar Nasiri
Omar Nasiri
Omar Nasiri is the pseudonym of a Moroccan spy who infiltrated al-Qaeda, attending training camps in Afghanistan and passing information to the UK and French intelligence services...
later claimed to have met Abdullah in the camp's infirmary, where he had told Nasiri about witnessing Afghans in Khost
Khost
Khost or Khowst is a city in eastern Afghanistan. It is the capital of Khost province, which is a mountainous region near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan...
blown apart while trying to salvage an unexploded bomb, although Abdullah himself does not remember the encounter. The two brothers fought constantly at the camp, one day their argument became so heated that Abdullah pointed his AK-47
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
and Abdurahman his PPK handgun, at each other screaming, before a trainer stepped between them. In 1997, a dispute between the brothers was mediated by Abu Laith al-Libi
Abu Laith al-Libi
Abu Laith al-Libi was a senior leader of the al-Qaeda movement in Afghanistan who appeared in several al-Qaeda videos. He was believed to have been active in the tribal regions of Waziristan. He also served as an al Qaeda spokesman...
, who earned their confidence and respect telling them about Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
and Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...
s, later described as "really cool" by Abdurahman. When the family was leaving Nizam Jihad in 1998, Abdurahman and Abdullah fought over seating in the car, and the fight ended with the older Khadr chasing his brother around the car with an AK-47
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
screaming.
As the oldest son, Abdullah would often drive his crippled father around Pakistan. Following the American invasion of Afghanistan the family split up. In 2002, Zaynab took Abdulkareem to Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
where her two-year old daughter needed medical attention. The siblings were later joined by Abdullah, since he required surgery to remove cartilage
Cartilage
Cartilage is a flexible connective tissue found in many areas in the bodies of humans and other animals, including the joints between bones, the rib cage, the ear, the nose, the elbow, the knee, the ankle, the bronchial tubes and the intervertebral discs...
from his nose.
A Taliban spokesman said that the January 26, 2004 suicide bomber that killed Cpl. Jamie Murphy
Jamie Murphy (soldier)
Jamie Brendan Murphy was a corporal of the 1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment Battalion Group . While serving with that unit's 3rd Battalion as part of Operation Athena, he was killed in Kabul, Afghanistan by a suicide bomber.Murphy had been serving with the military since the age of 19...
in Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
was "Mohammed", the son of a Canadian supposedly named Abdulrahman Khadr. The similar names led some to speculate it had been Abdullah, the only son of the family whose whereabouts were unknown at the time. DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
samples from the bomber later proved it wasn't Khadr.
Abdullah was interviewed for the 2004 documentary Son of al Qaeda
Son of al Qaeda
Son of al Qaeda is a documentary about Abdurahman Khadr, a young Canadian whose father was a senior associate of Osama bin Laden, produced by Terence McKenna, an independent Canadian producer....
, and acknowledged attending the Khalden training camp
Khalden training camp
The Khalden training camp was a military training camp in Afghanistan. According to the documentary Son of al Qaeda there were hundreds of military training camps in Afghanistan which were tied to al Qaeda...
. But he said that a ten-year-old learning to fire an AK47 was as common in Afghanistan as it was for a Canadian child to learn to play hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
. This statement was later used by Richard J. Griffin
Richard J. Griffin
A native of Illinois, Richard J. Griffin is the American Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security, as well as an Ambassador and holds several roles in the Department of Veterans Affairs, including Inspector General.-References:...
to label Khadr as "one of the world's most dangerous men"
In 2000, he allegedly had contact with a "high level member of al-Qaeda" who took the 19-year old with him to purchase weapons for fighting against the Northern Alliance
Northern Alliance
The Afghan Northern Alliance is a military-political umbrella organization created by the Islamic State of Afghanistan in 1996.Northern Alliance may also refer to:*Northern Alliance , a Canadian white supremacist group...
militants and supplying an Afghan training camp
Afghan training camp
An Afghan training camp is a camp or facility used for militant training located in pre-2002 Afghanistan. At the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Indian intelligence officials estimated that there were over 120 training camps operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan, run by a variety of...
.
Time in Pakistan
It is alleged that in 2003, Abdullah's father Ahmed Khadr was asked to organise militants operating near the border of Shagai, PakistanShagai, Pakistan
Located south of Mardan, Shagai is a region in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas.A fortress built by British forces in 1927 to oversee the Khyber Pass and house the Khyber Rifles still stands, and is today used by the Pakistan Army....
, and subsequently asked the 22-year-old Abdullah to help him procure weapons due to his experience several years earlier. Allegedly, Khadr procured weapons for his father, and became an arms dealer, selling weapons to other militants, earning himself about $5000 in profit on the transactions of approximately $20,000 worth of mortar rounds, landmines, grenades and AK-47 ammunition.
After his father's death in October 2003, Abdullah allegedly continued his trade in weapons.
Khadr also allegedly read the instruction manual for a GPS unit to determine its operation for militant friends in Pakistan who wanted to measure the distance between a local graveyard and a house he believed belonged to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz
Shaukat Aziz
Shaukat Aziz is a world acclaimed Pakistani economist who was the 15th Prime Minister of Pakistan from May 20, 2004 to 15 November 2007 in a joint military government led by General Pervez Musharraf. A Citibank executive, Aziz returned to Pakistan from the United States to be became Finance...
. The house turned out to belong to President Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf , is a retired four-star general who served as the 13th Chief of Army Staff and tenth President of Pakistan as well as tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Musharraf headed and led an administrative military government from October 1999 till August 2007. He ruled...
, and Khadr's friends were later arrested near the graveyard.
He is also alleged to have purchased a forged Pakistani passport for 30,000 rupees ($600), and to have given it to his sister Zaynab for safekeeping.
In October 2004, he was allegedly in the process of purchasing five Soviet 9K38 Igla Surface-to-air missile
Surface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile or ground-to-air missile is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles...
s for $1000 apiece from a 29-year-old Pakistani member of Lakshar e-Taiba with whom he offered to split the profit upon selling the weapons for $5000 apiece to the same man who'd taught him how to acquire munitions in 2000.
Arrest
An "American intelligence agency" classed Khadr as a threat, and offered a $500,000 bountyBounty (reward)
A bounty is a payment or reward often offered by a group as an incentive for the accomplishment of a task by someone usually not associated with the group. Bounties are most commonly issued for the capture or retrieval of a person or object. They are typically in the form of money...
for his capture. He was arrested on October 15, 2004. Four days after his capture, "agents of the United States", including an FBI agent, visited the "quasi-prison" to interview Khadr. The visits continued for seventeen days. Canada became aware of his capture in November, and details about the bounty on Khadr were initially hidden from the public, under claims it would threaten national security to admit the fact. However a Canadian October 19, 2004 memo describing the bounty was accidentally released in 2007. Reporters were warned not to publish the information, and the Globe and Mail newspaper took the government to court to fight the secrecy order. Justice Richard Mosley
Richard Mosley
A Canadian Federal Court trial judge, Richard Mosley has a background in National security interests, and has taken a role in hearing a number of Canadian anti-terrorism cases, including those relating to Abdullah and Omar Khadr, as well as Hassan Almrei. He has also taken a role in hearing the...
ruled that the information could be made public in May 2008, stating "the fact that a foreign state paid a bounty for the apprehension of a Canadian citizen abroad and that Canadian officials were aware of it at an early state is also a matter in which the public would have a legitimate interest.
Pakistan allegedly offered to repatriate Khadr to Canada several weeks after his arrest, but Canadian officials refused and suggested Pakistan look into turning him over to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(FBI) instead.
In April 2005, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
(RCMP) arranged for officers from Project A-O, including Richard Jenkins, to fly to Pakistan to question Khadr for three days, ostensibly to prove that they were a "self-sufficient intelligence agency". Abdullah stated that when he was about 14-years old, his father had purchased two pairs of walkie talkies from Abdullah Almalki
Abdullah Almalki
Abdullah Almalki is a Syrian-Canadian engineer who was imprisoned and tortured for two years in a Syrian jail after Canadian officials falsely indicated to the Syrian authorities and other countries that he was a terrorist threat....
, although his lawyers later argued the statement had been made due to his mistreatment by Pakistani officials. He was also questioned about Amer el-Maati
Amer el-Maati
Born in Kuwait, Amro Badr Abou el-Maati is a Canadian citizen who the United States has alleged is a member of Al-Qaeda who attended flight school and discussed hijacking a Canadian plane to fly into American buildings...
, who he said had worked as a carpet salesman after al-Qaeda had refused to grant him a pension following a brain injury stemming from a 1992 car accident. Asked about Mahmoud Jaballah, Khadr said he only knew him as an Arabic tutor in Peshawar who went by the patronymic
Patronymic
A patronym, or patronymic, is a component of a personal name based on the name of one's father, grandfather or an even earlier male ancestor. A component of a name based on the name of one's mother or a female ancestor is a matronymic. Each is a means of conveying lineage.In many areas patronyms...
Abu Ahmed. Asked about Toronto Imam Aly Hindy
Aly Hindy
Aly Hindy is the current Imam of the Salaheddin Islamic Centre in Scarborough, Canada, notable for his alleged connections to militant and fundamentalist elements, as well as his defence of Canadians accused of terrorism....
, Khadr said that his son Ibrahim had briefly attended the Musab al-Surri Afghan training camp
Afghan training camp
An Afghan training camp is a camp or facility used for militant training located in pre-2002 Afghanistan. At the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Indian intelligence officials estimated that there were over 120 training camps operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan, run by a variety of...
several years prior to 9/11, a fact that Hindy has spoken about himself. The RCMP later resigned themselves to the fact that it was unlikely Khadr could be prosecuted under Canadian law, since any statements made following "mistreatment" by Pakistani officials would hold no weight in the courts.
In June 2005, Canadian officials believed that negotiations with Pakistan had succeeded, and removed Khadr from no-fly lists, hired guards to escort him, and issued Khadr an emergency passport, no. EC016094. He was scheduled to fly home aboard a British Airways
British Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...
flight from Islamabad, scheduled to land in Toronto at 18:00, June 15, 2005. Canadian consular officials were "mystified" when he wasn't at the airport, and a note was immediately sent within the Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs is an American magazine and website on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published since 1922 by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually...
office stating "Given subj[ect] is now not returning to Cda, grateful mission wld ask Pakistani authorities what happened, where he is, which authority is holding him, etc. etc, and a new consular visit asap".
In July, FBI agent Gregory T. Hughes and Diplomatic Security Service
Diplomatic Security Service
The U.S. Diplomatic Security Service is the federal law enforcement arm of the United States Department of State. The majority of its Special Agents are members of the Foreign Service and federal law enforcement agents at the same time, making them unique...
agent Galen J. Nace interrogated Khadr for three days. On each day, Khadr waived any Miranda rights and agreed to speak with them. He repeated his earlier confession regarding his alleged training in Khalden, and purchasing munitions for the same "high level member of al-Qaeda" he had worked with in 2000.
Pakistan still refused to hand Khadr over to the United States, insisting he should be returned to Canada. On November 23, 2005, a Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
court accepted prosecutor James B. Farmer's request for a request to extradite Khadr from Canada - and eight days later Canada agreed to take Khadr from Pakistan. The timing led critics to speculate that Canada was simply helping the United States get around Pakistan's refusal to hand over Khadr to American forces.
Return to Canada and extradition request
Abdullah returned to Canada on December 2, 2005 accompanied by two officials from the Foreign Affairs department, and was met by RCMP officer Konrad ShourieKonrad Shourie
Sgt. Konrad Lionel Shourie is a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer assigned to the Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams.On December 5, 2002, while attached to the Oshawa RCMP branch, he was one of three Canadian police officers awarded the Medal of Bravery for their role in the UN...
and others who interviewed him for 2.5 hours. Two days later, Khadr agreed to another interview with FBI agents in the presence of Shourie. Court documents confirmed that he and his sister Zaynab
Zaynab Khadr
The eldest child of the Khadr family, Zaynab Khadr was born in Canada to Maha el-Samnah and Ahmed Khadr.Following the 1992 injury that left Ahmed disabled, Zaynab became a "second mother" to the younger children....
were both under investigation by the RCMP for terrorism-related offences, though commentators expressed confusion why he wasn't facing any criminal charges under Canadian law. During his sixteen days of freedom in Canada, Khadr was under constant RCMP surveillance.
On December 17, 2005 Khadr was phoned by the Canadian police and asked to meet them at a nearby McDonalds' restaurant. When he arrived, he was arrested based on the Boston extradition order, while the RCMP insisted the arrest "had nothing to do with" Canadian police. His mother was also arrested after she hit a police officer present, while his brother Abdurahman took photos of the arrest with his camera phone
Camera phone
A camera phone is a mobile phone which is able to capture still photographs . Since early in the 21st century the majority of mobile phones in use are camera phones....
. The next day, Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
spoke at length about Abdullah and other members of the Khadr family, reiterating that there was only one kind of Canadian citizenship, and that Abdullah, and the other members of his family were as entitled to all the legal protections as any other citizen.
Khadr was denied bail five days later by Justice Anne Molloy of Ontario's Superior Court of Justice
Superior Court of Justice
Superior Court of Justice may refer to:* Superior Court of Justice * Superior court of justice * Ontario Superior Court of Justice* Superior Courts of Justice of Peru* Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation...
. Abdullah was represented by Nathan Whitling
Nathan Whitling
A Canadian attorney from Edmonton, Alberta, Nathan Whitling became widely known for his defense of Omar Khadr who was held in the American Guantanamo Bay detention camps.-References:...
, Dennis Edney
Dennis Edney
Originally from Dundee, Scotland, Dennis Edney is a Canadian defence attorney based in Edmonton, Alberta noted for his involvement in high-profile cases, including Brian Mills, R. v...
and James Silver
James Silver
James Silver was a Mississippi historian and history professor at Ole Miss and later at Notre Dame University. He is known for befriending James Meredith, the University of Mississippi's first African-American student, after he enrolled there...
. He wore a black t-shirt reading "For the Future of Islam", and his grandmother Fatmah el-Samnah offered to act as his surety
Surety
A surety or guarantee, in finance, is a promise by one party to assume responsibility for the debt obligation of a borrower if that borrower defaults...
, putting up her $300,000 house as collateral
Collateral (finance)
In lending agreements, collateral is a borrower's pledge of specific property to a lender, to secure repayment of a loan.The collateral serves as protection for a lender against a borrower's default - that is, any borrower failing to pay the principal and interest under the terms of a loan obligation...
. The motion for bail was opposed by prosecutor Robin Parker, who referenced American claims that the forged passport Khadr had purchased in Pakistan had been intended to allow him to flee to a country without an extradition treaty with the United States, Khadr's lawyers attempted to have a publication ban
Publication ban
A publication ban is a court order which prohibits the public or media from disseminating certain details of an otherwise public judicial procedure. In Canada, publication bans are most commonly issued when the safety or reputation of a victim or witness may be hindered by having their identity...
bar media from reporting on the bail hearing. Prosecutor Robin Parker opposed this request for a publication ban, citing the open courts principle. Justice Molloy refused to order the publication ban, and ultimately denied bail. She found that there was an unacceptable risk that Khadr would flee, and also that the public confidence in the administration of justice would be undermined were she to grant Khadr bail. A second application for bail which was brought before Justice Gary Trotter was also refused.
On May 22, 2006, he was involved in a brawl with another inmate at Toronto West Detention Centre
Toronto West Detention Centre
The Toronto West Detention Centre, often referred to as simply The West, is a maximum security remand facility located in Rexdale, a community located in the north-west corner of Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
over telephone privileges. He appeared in court shortly afterwards, where he was represented by attorney James Silver, and his extradition hearing was set to begin October 30.
On April 7, 2008, he appeared in a Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
court to argue against extradition to the United States, alleging that his confessions in Pakistan were obtained through torture.
Classified evidence was not shown to the public, but was shared with both Khadr and his lawyers, and judge Richard Mosley
Richard Mosley
A Canadian Federal Court trial judge, Richard Mosley has a background in National security interests, and has taken a role in hearing a number of Canadian anti-terrorism cases, including those relating to Abdullah and Omar Khadr, as well as Hassan Almrei. He has also taken a role in hearing the...
wrote a private summary of the information it contained. Khadr argued that the evidence was simply what he had said to convince Pakistani captors to stop torturing him.
On October 5, 2009 Abdullah Khadr testified about his capture and treatment in Pakistan.
Colin Freeze, writing in the Globe and Mail, reporting on Abdullah's claims of torture, reported: "Ultimately, the judge will decide how to square Mr. Khadr's alleged admissions with such legal principles as the right to remain silent and the right to counsel, in determining whether any of his statements ought to count at all."
Isabel Teotonio, writing in the Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
, reported that Abdullah testified that he was beaten and "penetrated" by a rubber paddle during the fourteen months he spent in Pakistani extrajudicial detention
Extrajudicial detention
Arbitrary or extrajudicial detention is the detention of individuals by a state, without ever laying formal charges against them.Although it has a long history of legitimate use in wartime , detention without charge, sometimes in secret, has been one of the hallmarks of totalitarian states...
.
Following final arguments regarding the USA's request to extradite Khadr on April 7, 8 and 9, 2010, Ontario Superior Court Justice Christopher Speyer denied the extradition request on August 4, 2010 and Abdullah Khadr was set free after 4½ years.
Abdullah told reporters after his release. “I think this is going to be a new beginning for me in life.”
Michelle Shephard
Michelle Shephard
Michelle Shephard is an investigative reporter with the Toronto Star newspaper in Canada. She has been awarded the Michener Award for public service journalism and twice won Canada's top newspaper prize, the National Newspaper Award. In 2011, she was an associate producer on an Oscar-nominated...
, the Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
's national security expert, reported that Speyer's ruling was 62 pages long.
According to Shephard, while criticizing the $500,000 bounty the USA offered, and the abuse Abdullah suffered, Speyer wrote: “the rule of law must prevail over intelligence objectives.”
Dennis Edney
Dennis Edney
Originally from Dundee, Scotland, Dennis Edney is a Canadian defence attorney based in Edmonton, Alberta noted for his involvement in high-profile cases, including Brian Mills, R. v...
, one of Abdullah's lawyers, said, “When a U.S. government or any foreign government steps into a Canadian court they have to arrive with clean hands.”
The Canadian government appealed the courts decision but lost its case on May 7, 2011 when the highest court in Ontario confirmed unanimous in a 3-0 ruling the original judge's decision to deny the extradition request.
According to Nathan Whitling
Nathan Whitling
A Canadian attorney from Edmonton, Alberta, Nathan Whitling became widely known for his defense of Omar Khadr who was held in the American Guantanamo Bay detention camps.-References:...
another of Abdullah's lawyers, he is engaged to be married.