Canadian lawmakers hold hearings on Guantanamo detainee

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

OTTAWA (AP) — Canadian lawmakers began public hearings Tuesday on the detention and trial of a Canadian being held at Guantanamo Bay for allegedly killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan as a teenager.

Omar Khadr, 21, is accused of lobbing a hand grenade that killed the soldier in 2002. He was 15 at the time, but under the U.S. military tribunal system he will be tried under the same rules as an adult — a move critics say violates international law on the treatment of so-called child soldiers.

Khadr is the last citizen of a western democracy to be held at Guantanamo after other countries, including Australia and Britain, successfully appealed to U.S. authorities to repatriate their citizens.

Khadr's U.S. lawyer told a parliamentary committee on international human rights that there's no hard evidence to support the murder charge against him — but he'll likely be found guilty anyway if he's tried before a military tribunal.



Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hfHBKvxoo3t1tI9CXp1udn5I3AJAD90BRI6O1