Khadr turned down plea bargain
Canadian detained at Gitmo would have served 5 years of 30-year sentence
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Omar Khadr revealed Monday he had spurned a plea deal offered by U.S. prosecutors that would have seen him serve five years of a 30-year sentence provided he admitted to war crimes charges. “I will not take any of the offers because it’ll give the U.S. government an excuse for torturing me and abusing me when I was a child,” Khadr told a military tribunal holding pre-trial hearings at Guantanamo Bay. Khadr also told the tribunal he wouldn’t mount a defense after attempting to fire his lawyers last week. (The judge refused to allow him to fire Lt.-Col. Jon Jackson after Khadr fired his two American civilian lawyers on Friday.) “It’s going to be the same thing with lawyers or without lawyers,” Khadr said. “It’s gonna be life sentence.” Khadr’s trial is due to begin this August.