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PRISM Poll on Omar Khadr repatriation

. Published on January 29, 2010

The Supreme Court of Canada issued its ruling today on whether the government has the obligation to repatriate Omar Khadr. The Supreme Court confirmed lower Courts’ rulings that the Canadian government violated Omar’s constitutional rights. The court gave the government the complete freedom to choose a remedy.

Many human rights activists believe that the best remedy is to repatriate him home. Do you agree with this?. Please cast in your vote by choosing yes or no. You can find the poll on the right sidebar of the front page.

12 Responses to PRISM Poll on Omar Khadr repatriation

  1. Diane1976

    June 25, 2010 at 3:59 pm

    Omar Khadr was raised by his parents mostly in a war zone and it doesn't seem unusual to me that when he was 15, having been set up by his father and his father's friend, he joined in a war others around him were fighting and/or believed in.

    There's a report from Canadian officials who consulted with officers at Gtmo and concluded, a few years ago, that he was not "radicalized" and was "salvageable" but they warned against keeping him much longer among adult detainees. What a shame. Nobody knows his situation how.

    The legal case is very unusual. His alleged actions don't constitute war crimes under international law, but the recently released Military Commission Manual says that doesn't matter. It says you don't have to violate international law in order to be charged in that system with a war crime!

    This is just wrong. It would be wrong in any case, even if he wasn't only 15 at the time, and because of his age, it's even more wrong, and contrary to internatinal law on children in armed conflict. His treatment in prison also was wrong. He was at Bagram just before two detainees were beaten to death and his interrogator was involved in that.

    The US Senate Armed Services Committee condemned the whole detainee treatment program and the US Supreme Court declared the Military Commission system illegal in 2006. He was interrogated in that system, as a young teenager, for two years with no access to a lawyer.

    Numerous national and internatinal human rights and legal groups, including UNICEF, have raised their objections. This case is a blot on Canada's good reputation. The Canadian government's failure to act, even in the face of lower court orders to repatriate him, and a Supreme Court declaration that his rights are being violated, is shameful. Canada stands along among western democracies in not repatriating its citizen from Guantanamo.

  2. Tom Johnston

    June 25, 2010 at 12:37 am

    Bring the boy home. He was a 15 year old boy when he was taken.

    The fact that he was a child soldier under international law aside(a law that Canada sponsered btw) please tell me something…how does a kid with shrapnel in his eyes manage to throw a grenade accurately enough to kill a soldier. I have been a soldier and I wouldn't want to try it with dust in my eyes never mind hot metal

  3. freshair

    May 11, 2010 at 12:45 pm

    I wrote the PMO, Mr. Harper, Mr. L. Cannon and other MP's on this topic. I got responses back from both offices. I encourage others to do the same.

    Canada's inaction, passivity and non-intervention into Mr. Khadr's Charter Rights is reprehensible. It is equivalent to an act of omission–Canada neglecting the basic human rights of one of its citizens.

    The fact that Mr. Khadr was apprehended as a child soldier is extremely important in Canada's case that he should be repatriated.

    The fact that 3 Canadian reporters were kicked out of the pre-trial hearings last week by the US signals major ongoing breeches of Mr. Khadr's rights.

  4. Kelly Stewart

    April 28, 2010 at 6:09 am

    I don't care what anyone says, regardless of how your parents raised you, by the time you are 15 years old you know right from wrong. He didn't have to throw the grenade; he could have said no and suffer the consequences. What kind of religion is Islam when they encourage their followers to kill people! In addition, his family has made no secret of their hatred for the West and everything we represent. If they don't like it here, they can move to other countries with fewer freedoms and practice their hatred there. I think the whole family should be banished from Canada!

  5. Col

    April 10, 2010 at 12:34 pm

    Knee-jerk reflexes like Martin W's do horrible damage to the very things he seems to hold dear (as do I). To mention only one: clear-thinking people are called clear-thinking because they think and try to do so clearly. They do this because they realize that no-one has ever understood anything automatically.

    Khadr was a victim of Al Qaeda. George W. Bush was its best recruiting agent. The likes of Martin W. carry on the job. Without the valiant efforts of this volunteer army Al Qaeda might by now have withered away and vanished from the Earth.

  6. Martin W.

    March 3, 2010 at 3:41 pm

    A 15 year old child of the enemy of my freedom is still my enemy . I do not care what his name is or where he is from.

    If that same 15 year old child wishes to renounce his past associations and fight for my country and freedom , at that point he is entitled to be properly treated by me and my country.

    If people feel Omar Khadr can have one foot standing with the enemy and one foot standing with his friends does not understand war. War is never fair.

    If all the Muslim countries desire, they are free to adopt the freedoms of Canada for their own countries. They chose not to do so. This group of people do not want our freedoms or justice until they are in trouble .

    Most clear thinking people understand these things automatically.

  7. Wayne Coady

    February 28, 2010 at 4:53 pm

    When one Canadian's right are infringed upon , then we all are not safe. Either the Constitution works or it does not . Canada signed an agreement with other countries on children who were forced into a war as a child soldier. It look like Canada lied to other countries.

  8. Diane1976

    February 17, 2010 at 7:06 pm

    “When a Canadian citizen is ill-treated and when the rights of a Canadian citizen need to be defended, I think it’s always the obligation of the government of Canada to vocally and publicly stand up for that citizen.” (unless his name is Omar Khadr?)

    Stephen Harper
    http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/…

  9. Traci Baker

    February 17, 2010 at 5:11 pm

    I am a woman with three grown children, one who has just reached eighteen in the last year. I strongly believe Omar Khadr must be treated as if he were a child soldier when he was captured. He is a Canadian citizen and he should be brought home. I would want no less for my own child.

  10. Marilyn Robinson

    February 13, 2010 at 7:28 am

    "In Germany, they first came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Catholic. Then they came for me — and by that time there was nobody left to speak up."

    - Martin Niemller

    I have been silent for so long. This young Canadian should never have had to endure what he has. If I do not speak up for justice for him, how can I ever claim it for myself? Omar Khadr must be brought home.

  11. Hans B.

    February 12, 2010 at 3:51 pm

    Omar Khadr should be afforded ALL the rights and privileges of a Canadian citizen, despite our likes or dislike of the family.

    According to media reports, when in the middle of the night a special army unit attackes the house you are in with bombs and gunfire, kills your father and all other occupants, then I think you would have the right to defend yourself. Omar Khadr may not have known who is out there doing the shooting but at 15 years of age was surely very frightened. In my book, the only thing he is guilty of is self defense but never murder. Too bad for the US soldier that got killed, but when you are trying to obliterate a house with the occupants in it, then you must expect some hostile reaction in return. War is like that some times.

    That is over and above our laws concerning juvenile offenders, which should be Canada's only concern in this case. It is our governments everlasting shame that this Canadian is not afforded even the basics of of our laws for so long and something that this Canadian is not very proud of.

  12. dave budney

    February 4, 2010 at 9:22 am

    yes

    Omar was 15 yrs old (a child) at the time. He had been brainwashed by his parents for years before that.