4 November 3, 2010 + Over the Edge Omar Kadhr to Leave Guantanamo in a Years Time The last westerner at Guantanamo Bay pleads guilty to terror charges HANNAH PETERSEN NEWS EDITOR ONLINE SOURCE A young Omar Khadr Toronto born Omar Khadr has made a deal with the U.S. Military commissioners at Guantanamo Bay. Kadhr was accused of killing an American soldier in Afghanistan back in 2002. He has been held at the American Navel since he was only fifteen years old and is also the last western prisoner held at the facility in Cuba. After an attack by the U.S. military on a suspected Al- Queda compound in the summer of 2002, Kadhr threw a grenade that killed Sgt. Christopher Speer. His defence argued that since Kadhr was only fifteen at the time he was technically a child soldier and should be treated as a victim, rather than a war-criminal. Nevertheless, Kahdr has remained at Guantanamo while a lengthy legal process proceeded to determine the direction of his case. In 2007, Kadhr was finally scheduled to be arraigned, however, the military judge overseeing the case threw out the charges on a technicality. The judge’s rulings were then overturned by the Court of Military Commission Review which reinstated the charges against Kahdr. There were no witnesses who saw Kadhr throw the grenade, but because he was thought to be the only person left alive after the attack, prosecutors assumed that he was the only one who could have done it. Kadhr now suffers from many health problems due to the battle in 2002 including no vision remaining in his left eye, deteriorating vision in his right eye because of embedded shrapnel, shrapnel embedded in his shoulder, and frequent nightmares. This case has drawn considerable attention from humanitarian groups who demand that Kahdr be returned to Canada. Kadhr’s lawyers argued that returning him to Canada would put a stop to what they believed to be a violation of Kadhr’s human rights. A 2009 report from the Security Intelligence Review Committee claim that while interrogating Kadhr, his captors threatened him with rape, kept him alone, and would not let him sleep. The report did not find any evidence of torture, however. The Federal Court of Canada ordered the government to request the return of Omar Kahdr in 2009, after many Sperm Industry Case Heads to Trial Artificially conceived Olivia Pratten seeks identity of her father HANNAH PETERSEN NEWS EDITOR Technology sometimes evolves faster than accompanying social standards. A prime example is the widely unregulated artificial insemination industry. A British Columbian born woman, however, is currently challenging the system and seeking rights for children conceived of sperm or egg donors. Olivia Pratten is going to court to attempt to have B.C.’s adoption act deemed unconstitutional because it does not recognize children who are born of sperm and egg donors as having the same rights as adopted children to seek documentation regarding their biological parents. The court case also seeks to have legislation introduced that would require artificial insemination facilities to keep detailed records of their sperm and egg donors and to make those records available to the children conceived from donated eggs or sperm. Pratten is a 28-year-old journalist who lives in Toronto. She claims that this case is more important than her personal prerogative. For Pratten, this case is about every child who has “been the last person who's been thought about.” As it stands today, there is no provincial regulation that requires fertility facilities to keep donor records. Because no records exist of Olivia Pratten’s sperm donor, the province applied to have the case dismissed. However, the Supreme Court of B.C. ruled for the trial to go ahead as this is a serious issue and there are no other means of addressing such problems. Federally, the legislation prevents donor’s health records from being destroyed; however, the sperm and egg donors are still allowed to remain completely anonymous. If Pratten wins her case, sperm donor records will be kept indefinitely and existing records will no longer be able to be destroyed after a 6-year period. The knowledge of a person’s biological parents is important for psychological as well as medical needs. A large and growing number of individuals conceived by this process are reaching adulthood with no knowledge of their ethnic, cultural, or medical histories. Thus, if this case succeeds, it will change the regulations allowing the identities of donor parents to be secured and accessed upon request of the child. Only speculation can assess how such a change in regulation will affect the donation rates at fertility clinics. How are babies made However, the trial will be delayed until a pervious case determining provincial and federal jurisdiction over the federal regulations regarding sperm and egg donations is completed. years of appeals from humanitarian group. The request was overruled by the Supreme Court in January of this year. The supreme court was acting on an appeal by the government. Kahdr’s fate seemed to be up in the air as President Barak Obama announced the pending closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention centre shortly after his election. On October 25, 2010, Kadhr plead guilty to all five terror- related charges against him in exchange for a return to Canada after serving one more year in the United States. His lawyer, Dennis Edney, revealed that Kadhr will serve no more than eight years in prison as part of the deal. Edney went on to say that the plea deal was a “piece of paper” because Kahdr would have “confessed to anything, including the killing of John F. Kennedy, just to get out of this hell-hole.” Edney continued to claim that if Kadhr had refused to accept the plea deal he would have to undergo an unfair trial based on “evidence that would be inadmissible in a real court and the potential of life in prison at Guantanamo Bay.” Canadian government officials, including Stephen Harper, had no real comments on the case other than Kadhr’s situation was between himself and the U.S. government. Khadr had previously stated that he would never plead guilty to killing U.S. Sgt. Christopher Speer. He has now plead guilty to murder and the violation of the laws of war, attempted murder and the violation of the laws of war, conspiracy, providing material to support terrorists and spying. Controversy over the circumstances of Kadhr’s case have not disappeared along with his admitted innocence. Opposition politicians in Canada have noted that according to international law, Kahdr was a child soldier, and child soldiers should be rehabilitated and not punished. Kahdr’s family members have been linked with terrorist activities and he was sent to a military training camp in his early adolescence. ONLINE SOURCE