Omar Khar was sentenced today to 40 years in prison for murder, terrorism and spying by a military panel unaware that the confessed Canadian war criminal had agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence capped at eight years and the chance to return to Canada after one more year in Guantanamo.
The shorter, plea-deal sentence will be the one imposed. The panel deliberated for nearly nine hours over two days. Tabitha Speer, widow of the special forces medic murdered by Mr. Khadr, then a 15-year-old, cheered when the 40-year sentence was read to the courtroom by panel’s president.
Mr. Khadr looked straight ahead.
One more year in Guantanamo will mean Mr. Khadr spends nine years in U.S. military prisons and up to seven more in Canadian prisons although his Canadian legal team believes they will be able to win his release soon after he is repatriated.
In effect, ‘Guantanamo’s Child,’ has become Ottawa’s problem.
The Harper government has, for years, fought strenuously to avoid Mr. Khadr’s repatriation, unlike other western governments which demanded the United states return their citizens from Guantanamo’s notorious camps.
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