Amnesty urges PM to press Obama for Khadr return

Amnesty urges PM to press Obama for Khadr return
Last Updated: Wednesday, February 4, 2009 | 1:29 PM ET Comments39Recommend20
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Alex Neve of Amnesty International Canada holds a signed petition requesting Omar Khadr be repatriated following a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Wednesday. Alex Neve of Amnesty International Canada holds a signed petition requesting Omar Khadr be repatriated following a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Wednesday. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Amnesty International is urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper to push U.S. President Barack Obama during his visit to Ottawa later this month for the repatriation of Omar Khadr from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as well as offer to resettle at least 18 other detainees in Canada.

In a letter released on Wednesday, the human rights group appeals to the prime minister to "make firm offers" to Obama on Feb. 19 for Canada to take in 17 Uyghur Muslims from China being held at the U.S. naval base, despite no longer being considered "enemy combatants."

The letter also calls for Harper to offer resettlement for Djamel Ameziane, an Algerian detainee who once lived in Montreal and whose brother lives in Canada.

Aside from Khadr, the detainees have never been charged with any crime, despite being detained for years, said Alex Neve, the secretary general of the Canadian arm of Amnesty International.

At a news conference in Ottawa, Neve said Canada must be part of the "solution" to the closing down of the detention centre, which he dubbed a "human rights failure."

"Guantanamo Bay is a place where, in the name of security, injustice has reigned," Neve said.

Harper has steadfastly refused to change his government's position on the Khadr case, saying the charges against him are serious and the legal proceedings against him must take their course.

But Neve, whose organization has long demanded Khadr's repatriation, said Wednesday the Conservative government's position "has never been tenable." His group planned to submit to the government a collection of letters, petitions and postcards signed by more than 50,000 Canadians calling for Khadr's return.

"Now with Guantanamo Bay slated to close, there is only one position left for Canada to advance — that Omar Khadr come back to Canada," he said.

Khadr, the only Western citizen remaining in detention at the U.S. naval base in Cuba, is accused of killing an American soldier in Afghanistan in July 2002, when he was 15.

The 22-year-old remains in legal limbo after all charges against him at the military commissions system were suspended last month at the request of the Obama administration.
Canada could take in 3 Uyghur detainees: report

Meanwhile, the Globe and Mail reported on Wednesday that Canada is close to accepting three Uyghur men who have been held at Guantanamo Bay for seven years despite being cleared of any wrongdoing by the United States.

The three are among six Guantanamo detainees who have recently applied for resettlement in Canada with the help of advocates from Canada's Uyghur community.

Neve called the Globe report "encouraging," but stressed the 14 other detainees also deserve help from Ottawa, as they would face severe persecution if they were returned to China.

"We think it's important that any of that group who would want to come here should be resettled as refugees," he said.

In the case of Ameziane, Neve said he would almost certainly face torture if he was returned to his native Algeria. The Anglican Diocese of Montreal has applied to resettle Ameziane through a refugee sponsor program.

Ameziane, 41, one of the longest-serving inmates at Guantanamo Bay, lived in Montreal for five years until about 2000 when he was denied refugee status in Canada.

His lawyers say it was through sheer bad luck that Ameziane ended up in Afghanistan in 2000, the only country that would accept him without a visa or other paperwork. Ameziane had hoped to settle in Afghanistan and perhaps start a business.

But when military action began in 2001, Ameziane was rounded up by bounty hunters and sold to the United States military as he tried to flee the war-torn country, his lawyers say.

He was subsequently transported to Guantanamo Bay in February 2002. His lawyers say he has been classified as an "enemy combatant" and been detained as a risk to national security.

But they add he is not accused of receiving military or terrorist training, did not take part in any fighting and there is no evidence he was involved in planning or financing terror attacks.
Legal limbo

Amnesty's appeal comes a day after Harper received a letter signed by 185 organizations and prominent Canadians calling on him to repatriate the Toronto-born Khadr.

The letter, released by the Council on American-Islamic Relations Canada, said many Muslims have interpreted Harper's inaction on the Khadr file, especially in light of the highly publicized repatriation of Brenda Martin from Mexico, as a sign his government considers Canadian Muslims to be "second-class citizens."

The letter's signators included Muslim and Jewish organizations, civil liberties groups, as well as individuals such as documentary filmmaker Alexandre Trudeau, son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau; former UN special envoy Stephen Lewis; author Naomi Klein and Maher Arar, a Canadian victim of U.S. rendition.

Obama has signed an executive order to shut down the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay within a year and find an alternative to the military commissions process for trying accused terrorists.

The detention centre was set up by the U.S. administration in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and has been the subject of scorn and outrage from human rights groups and legal observers. Critics had decried the detention of terrorism suspects for years without trial or charges, as well as the use of coercive and secretive interrogation techniques on detainees.

An estimated 245 men are being held at the U.S. naval base.

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