Professors, doctors among supporters of Omar Khadr's bail application
TORONTO -- Professors, doctors, businessmen and even a former senior member of the U.S. military have put their names -- and reputations -- on the line to support the bail application of a man the Canadian government and other detractors have branded a dangerous jihadi terrorist.
Foremost among those backing Omar Khadr are his long-time lawyer Dennis Edney and his wife Patricia, who have offered to take him into their home if he wins bail.
"I just think he's an extraordinary young man," Patricia Edney, a manager with Alberta Health Services, said in an interview from Edmonton.
"We see him as more than a client: We see him as somebody who's been abandoned by his government and suffered greatly for it."
Edney, who has met the Toronto-born Khadr in prison, says she finds him gentle, articulate and gracious.
Khadr's application for bail -- to be heard over two days later this month by Court of Queen's Bench -- aims to get him out of Bowden Institution in Innisfail, Alta., while he appeals his conviction on five war-crimes charges by a U.S. military commission for incidents that occurred in Afghanistan when he was 15 years old.
He pleaded guilty in 2010 to murder in violation of the law of war in the death of an American special forces soldier, attempted murder, conspiracy, spying and providing material support to terrorism as part of a deal to be repatriated to Canada from Guantanamo Bay.
Despite the backing of numerous legal experts and even rulings from U.S. courts, the commission appeal court has so far put his case on hold, raising the possibility that Khadr, 28, won't get a hearing before his eight-year sentence runs out -- in October 2018.
In their letters for bail court, Arlette Zinck and her businessman husband Rob Betty make clear their positive assessment of Khadr.
"I am proud to count him among my closest friends," says Betty, who has had "dozens of rich visits" with Khadr since his return to Canada in Sept. 2012.
Professors, doctors among supporters of Omar Khadr's bail application | CTV News
TORONTO -- Professors, doctors, businessmen and even a former senior member of the U.S. military have put their names -- and reputations -- on the line to support the bail application of a man the Canadian government and other detractors have branded a dangerous jihadi terrorist.
Foremost among those backing Omar Khadr are his long-time lawyer Dennis Edney and his wife Patricia, who have offered to take him into their home if he wins bail.
"I just think he's an extraordinary young man," Patricia Edney, a manager with Alberta Health Services, said in an interview from Edmonton.
"We see him as more than a client: We see him as somebody who's been abandoned by his government and suffered greatly for it."
Edney, who has met the Toronto-born Khadr in prison, says she finds him gentle, articulate and gracious.
Khadr's application for bail -- to be heard over two days later this month by Court of Queen's Bench -- aims to get him out of Bowden Institution in Innisfail, Alta., while he appeals his conviction on five war-crimes charges by a U.S. military commission for incidents that occurred in Afghanistan when he was 15 years old.
He pleaded guilty in 2010 to murder in violation of the law of war in the death of an American special forces soldier, attempted murder, conspiracy, spying and providing material support to terrorism as part of a deal to be repatriated to Canada from Guantanamo Bay.
Despite the backing of numerous legal experts and even rulings from U.S. courts, the commission appeal court has so far put his case on hold, raising the possibility that Khadr, 28, won't get a hearing before his eight-year sentence runs out -- in October 2018.
In their letters for bail court, Arlette Zinck and her businessman husband Rob Betty make clear their positive assessment of Khadr.
"I am proud to count him among my closest friends," says Betty, who has had "dozens of rich visits" with Khadr since his return to Canada in Sept. 2012.
Professors, doctors among supporters of Omar Khadr's bail application | CTV News
