Eldest Khadr Freed From Prison
Posted August 4, 2010 3:29 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Abdullah Khadr is free after spending after four and a-half years behind bars.
A Toronto judge has stayed his hearing over whether he should be extradited to the United States to face charges that he supplied weapons to al-Qaida.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Christopher Speyer ruled a self-incriminating statement Khadr gave to American agents while in custody in Pakistan was “manifestly unreliable.”
He also ruled further statements based on that one were also inadmissible in what he said was an “exceptional” case.
Khadr’s lawyers argued their client’s incriminating statements were the result of torture during detention in Pakistan.
Outside court, the 29-year-old Khadr said he thinks this is going to be a new beginning for him.
Wednesday’s decision comes just days before Khadr’s brother, Omar, is slated to stand trial in Guantanamo Bay on war-crimes charges.
Abdullah Khadr’s lawyer, Dennis Edney, says the government has 30 days to decide if it will appeal the ruling.
At a news conference in Montreal, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson would only say the government looks at all cases and deals with them very carefully.
