Canadian defendant Omar Khadr sits with his defense team as FBI Special Agent Robert Fuller testifies during a pre-trial hearing at the Camp Justice compound on Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, April 29, 2010.
now watches this First Guantanamo trial under Obama begins
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — Thirteen hundred miles from Washington, on a sun-drenched corner of this iguana-dotted island, the U.S. military is gearing up for the trial of the youngest and last Western detainee at Guantanamo Bay.
The trial of Omar Khadr, 23, opened here Monday. Khadr was detained in Afghanistan in 2002, and is accused of murdering a U.S. soldier, conspiracy, spying and other charges.
The son of an Egyptian who became a Canadian citizen, Khadr moved between homes in Canada, Pakistan and Afghanistan for years. Other Western countries have secured the release of their citizens from Guantanamo, but successive Canadian governments have refused to even ask for Khadr’s return.
A successful trial and conviction for Khadr would mark a significant success for U.S. efforts to move beyond the legal limbo that has plagued Guantanamo for years. But Khadr was 15 when he was detained and human rights advocates criticize the administration for starting the tribunals with a case against a child soldier.
Khadr’s trial is the first military commission to take place under the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama. Nearly 800 prisoners have passed through the facility since the United States began using it as a detention center in 2002. Six have been charged and three have been convicted.
coppied by http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/americas/100811/guantanamo-trial-omar-khadr
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