The case of Omar Khadr is one that defiantly hit home. Perhaps this is because Omar and I are very similar in some aspects. Our nationalities, ages, foreign ethnicities, and aspirations in life to educate ourselves are all the same. Yet the last 11 years of our lives have been very different. A Canadian youth like myself spent the last 11 years going to high school and university while someone who is demographically very similar to me, spent the last decade in the world’s most dangerous and torturous jail against his own will, even though we are subjected to the same constitutional rights.
Incase you are unaware of Omar’s story, here a bit of background information. Omar, a Canadian citizen who was 15 at the time, was accused of killing a US medic during a cross fire in Afghanistan that took place in an local compound, where he worked as a translator with his father. Omar, who was immediately blinded in one eye from the attack, was then shot three times in the back leaving him critically injured. After the cross fire, Omar was captured by the American Military and transferred to Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp for ten years. During this time, he was brutally tortured and was held in solitary confinement for three years where he had no access to legal aid.
Unfortunately, Canada did not come to the rescue as Omar’s constitutional rights were never enforced by the Canadian government during his time in Guantanamo Bay. Perhaps this is because Omar would have likely never been convicted under the Canadian law since he was a minor, and even if he were convicted under the Canadian law, he probably would have not served a complete sentence due to loopholes such as parole and bail, which do not suit the American agenda. As a result, Omar’s case was left in the hands of The Guantanamo Military Commission, a body created to deal with specialized cases such as this, that had been rejected by US civilian and military courts. This commission convicted Omar of war crimes that did not exist in 2002, which is an illegal act under the International Law.
As a Canadian Muslim, I speculate whether Omar would have been treated differently and his rights would have been restored if he were not a Muslim? How important are the roles of ethnicity and religion in determining the outcome of a human rights violation in Canada? Evidently, they play a critical role, as Omar was the last Westerner to be released from Guantanamo Bay. Therefore this makes me question Canada’s position on protecting its citizen’s rights. Is the country that prides itself on diversity, acceptance, and safety really as pluralistic as we think?
Regardless of whether Omar is guilty or not, I believe that there have been apparent human rights violationsthat should not have taken place to any child here in Canada, or elsewhere.
