2. Who is Omar
Khadr?
• Canadian citizen. Born in Toronto on September 19, 1986.
• He was fifteen years old when he was taken prisoner by U.S. forces in
Afghanistan on July 2002.
• Captured in battle and severely wounded he was taken to Bagram Air
Force base where he was interrogated and tortured.
• On October 2002, he was sent to the U.S. military prison in
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
• The U.S. government accused Omar Khadr of having killed an American
soldier and intended to try him as a war criminal.
• He plead guilty to 5 charges – crimes he did not commit - including the
killing of Sgt. Speers – under torture.
3. What happened in
Guantanamo? – “one of
the worst places on earth”
• There was no fair trial – he was a
child soldier to be protected under
the laws of the Geneva Convention.
•He was formally identified as a
child soldier by the head of the
United Nations child soldier
program in a letter to the Military
Commission in October 2010.
•Evidence was obtained by torture
and he was coerced into pleading
guilty.
•This makes him the first person to be
called a „convicted war criminal‟ since
the war in Afghanistan started in
2001, and the first child soldier ever
in modern history to be found guilty of
war crimes.
“Nobody cares about me”
4. Bagram &4 Days
Inside Guantanamo
• Omar was subjected to 4 continuous days of interrogation – tortured
psychologically and physically in the process.
• Guantanamo‟s first ever video interrogation video was released depicting Omar
Khadr‟s interrogation – 7 hours of footage, 7 hours of torture caught on tape.
• He asked for pain medication for his wounds but was refused (3 gun shot wounds,
shrapnel in left eye).
• During interrogations a bag was placed over his head and US personnel brought
military dogs into the room to frighten him;
• Cold water was thrown on him;
• His hands were tied above a door frame and he was forced to stand in this position
for hours; stress positions.
• He was not allowed to use the bathroom and was forced to urinate on himself – used
as a “human mop”
5. "Get ready for a miserable life.“ - Interrogator to Omar Khadr in Guantánamo
4 Days Inside Guantanamo
• Being short-shackled by his hands and feet to a bolt in the floor and left for five
to six hours; occasionally a US officer would enter the room to laugh at him;
• Being kept in extremely cold rooms;
• Being lifted up by the neck while shackled, and then dropped to the floor;
• Being beaten by guards;
• Having a finger pressed into a pressure point in his neck, causing severe pain
and inability to breathe.
• The lights were kept on 24 hours a day and detainees were punished for trying
to cover the lights with their clothes;
• Kept in isolation for months
• Hunger Strike – force fed
• Camp V
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZrERVO19Dg
6. Where is Omar today?
• After 11 years of torture, Omar
was finally repatriated to Canada
– despite an 11 month delay!
• He’s in Millhaven Correctional
Facility held in isolation
• He *might* be eligible for day-
parole in January 2013 and
eventually a year parole after 7
months or so
• He hopes to back to school – he
finished 8th grade
7. Quotes by ex-Guantanamo
detainees
• “Omar is like is my son now. I left a son in Guantánamo Bay”
• “I remember the last time I’ve met Omar and he said to me: “Nobody
cares about me”. The pity that I felt for him, I’ve never felt for
anyone that I saw during all the time in Guantánamo and Bagram”
• “One of the moving things that I remember in Camp 5 when I was
locked up with Omar, was his voice and the way he sang…”
• “Ultimately the blame now lies on the Canadian people, of how I, as a
cold, callous son of a bitch, had more compassion for that boy than
his own people?”
