The Canadian government needs to get Omar Khadr, a child soldier, and the only remaining Western citizen, out of the illegal Guantánamo Bay prison to be dealt with in an open Canadian court.
Khadr's parents are reprehensible.
The American government needs to be held to account for its torture policies.
Now that that's out of the way, let's get on to what this blog post is really about.
Khadr's situation is becoming all too common for Canadian citizens.
Canadian's arrested abroad far too often receive little support from their government.
This neglect is not a partisan policy and did not start with the Harper government, as Mahar Arar can attest.
Arar, as part of the War on TerrorTM, was kidnapped, imprisoned and tortured.
Worse, though was the complicity of the Canadian government.
The problem is not that Canadians are imprisoned abroad, after all, like some citizens of all countries, some Canadians will violate the duly constituted laws of foreign nations.
Please see the trial of Baron Black of Crossharbour.
The problem is not that Canadians may be imprisoned in countries which do not respect the rule of law, due process, international laws or questionable circumstances.
Please see the trial of Huseyincan Celil.
Or Maher Arar.
Or Bashir Makhtal.
Or Abdullah Almalki.
The problem is the Canadian government's seeming inability, or desire to provide assistance to its citizens.
Related Links
Amnesty International Canada
Omar Khadr [CBC]
Huseyin Celil [Previous post]
Omar Khadr [Previous post]
1 comment:
Thank you for your response to my post, Muslims Against Sharia.
The primary point of this post is the Canadian government's lack of action when its citizens are imprisoned in questionable circumstances abroad
Canada is the only western country which hasn't attempted to repatriate its citizen held at Guantánamo Bay.
That Omar Khadr's family is reprehensible is not germane to policy decisions regarding Canadian citizens held in foreign prisons under questionable circumstances.
Khadr's possible guilt is something to be decided in an open court, I can't imagine how that could not lead to justice for Sgt. First Class Christopher J. Speer or his widow.
A 14 year-old soldier is, by definition a child soldier.
Lastly Muslims Against Sharia, I look forward to vigorous, passionate debate on any post on my blog, but I will not tolerate name-calling. Any further name-calling responses on my blog will be deleted.
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