Federal Court of Appeal rules Ottawa should press for Canadian detainees return
The federal government has lost its bid to overturn a ruling forcing it to press for the repatriation of Omar Khadr from the Guantanamo Bay prison. The government had had argued the seriousness of the allegations against Khadr, the 22 year old Toronto native is charged with killing a U.S. army soldier in Afghanistan, should allow for his prosecution before a U.S. military tribunal. But on Friday, the Federal Court of Appeal found that Ottawa’s ongoing refusal to bring Khadr back to Canada “offends a principle of fundamental justice and violates Mr. Khadr’s rights.” The court upheld an earlier decision calling on the federal government to demand Khadr’s return “as soon as practicable.”