CSIS ignored Khadr's human rights: report
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 | 5:55 PM ET Comments594Recommend130
CBC News
In this courtroom sketch Omar Khadr, far left, sits with his defense team during a hearing in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on Wednesday. (Janet Hamlin, Pool/Associated Press) CSIS ignored human-rights concerns and did not take Omar Khadr's age into account in deciding to interview him at the U.S. military's Guantanamo Bay prison, says a report from the independent committee that oversees the spy agency.
The Toronto-born Khadr, now 22, is being held at the U.S. detention centre in Cuba for allegedly throwing a grenade in Afghanistan when he was 15, killing an American soldier. He is the only Western citizen still detained at Guantanamo.
A report from the security intelligence review committee (SIRC), released Wednesday in Ottawa, said documents also show Khadr's U.S. captors threatened him with rape, kept him alone and would not let him sleep. Canadian Security Intelligence Service officers questioned Khadr at Guantanamo Bay in 2003 and shared the results of their interrogations with the Americans.
However, the report did not find that CSIS was complicit in Khadr's alleged torture at the hands of U.S. interrogators.
The committee recommended that CSIS take human-rights issues into consideration in future probes and also establish a policy framework to guide its dealings with young people.
"As part of this, the service should ensure that such interactions are guided by the same principles that are entrenched in Canadian and international law," the SIRC report said.
CSIS reviewing report
CSIS "will give careful consideration to [the report's] findings and recommendations," the agency said in a statement.
"CSIS has had to adapt to the more recent phenomenon of youth radicalization and will consider SIRC's findings as it continues to assess how it deals with this threat."
Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan said, "We are reviewing the report with interest. As you know, it deals with events that took place under the previous Liberal government."
Since the Conservatives came to power, they have implemented a new CSIS protocol for dealing with people under age 18, he added.
Former Manitoba premier Gary Filmon heads SIRC (CBC) Former Manitoba premier Gary Filmon heads SIRC, which spent a year reviewing Khadr's treatment by Canadian officials.
"It's pretty clear you can't just go in there with the objective of getting as much information as you can," Filmon said.
"I don't think anyone at that time paid attention to his age, his circumstances and that his human rights had to be considered."
Filmon also questioned whether CSIS should have interrogated Khadr in a controversial venue like Guantanamo.
The torture allegations came to light after Khadr's lawyers released a video of one of the CSIS interrogation sessions.
Khadr, who was 16 at the time, breaks down crying for his mother as an angry CSIS interrogator peppers him with questions.
Khadr lawyers subsequently learned that before the interrogation session began, his American captors tried to soften him up in preparation for an interview with intelligence officials from Canada's Foreign Affairs Department.
They subjected him to something known as the "frequent flyer program." It's a form of sleep deprivation in which a prisoner is moved to a new location every three hours for several weeks and often exposed to extreme hot and cold temperatures.
Human rights advocates say that fits the legal definition of torture.
Khadr's lawyer faces removal from case
Meanwhile, another episode in the seemingly endless legal saga of the Canadian terror suspect took place in Guantanamo Wednesday.
After two cancelled trial dates and almost seven years in U.S. custody, infighting among Khadr's Pentagon-appointed lawyers had threatened to derail his case again.
His Pentagon defence lawyer has been navy Cmdr. Bill Kuebler, but the new boss at the Pentagon's legal department said he wants to remove Kuebler from the case.
Khadr told Judge Patrick Parrish he wants to hire a U.S. criminal lawyer from a big Washington, D.C., firm to replace all of his military lawyers, whom he no longer trusts.
While Parrish was receptive to the idea, he was also concerned that Khadr would be in a bind in his complicated case without benefit of immediate legal advice.
Parrish ruled that Kuebler would remain in reserve for the time being until Khadr's new lawyer got up to speed on the case.
Khadr's Canadian lawyer, Dennis Edney, said Khadr, who had lost faith in his Pentagon lawyers, was satisfied with the outcome in court.
"Omar is very disappointed at the fighting that is taking place. He's very disappointed at the behaviour of Cmdr. Kuebler at creating a divisive attitude amongst the military."
Edney said Khadr has suffered one bad break after another.
"I always say that I've never seen anyone who's been so abused and so abandoned by so many who should know better."
Khadr family's al-Qaeda ties
Khadr road to Guantanamo began at age 15 when his father loaned him out to an al-Qaeda commander in Afghanistan. That's how he ended up in a firefight with U.S. soldiers, almost died from his wounds, was charged with murder, interrogated more than 100 times, and according to his lawyers, tortured.
Although President Barack Obama has ordered the prison closed, U.S. military prosecutors are continuing to build cases against 66 Guantanamo inmates, including Khadr.
Edney said as more evidence piles up showing that Khadr's rights were violated, it puts pressure on the Canadian government to bring him back to Canada.
In April, the Federal Court of Canada ruled the government must ask the United States "as soon as practicable" to return Khadr home. The government is appealing that decision.
The Khadr family has longstanding ties to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. A purported financier and extremist with the network, Omar's father, Ahmed Said Khadr, was killed by Pakistani forces in 2003.
Omar's brother Karim suffered wounds that left him a paraplegic in the shootout that killed their father. Another brother, Abdullah, is accused by U.S. officials of supplying weapons to al-Qaeda.