Omar Khadr to appeal terrorism convictions, will walk free if successful: lawyer
TORONTO - Omar Khadr's lawyer says the former Guantanamo Bay detainee plans to appeal his terrorism convictions.
Dennis Edney says if the appeal is successful, the Toronto-born 26-year-old will walk free.
Khadr has been held in Ontario's maximum security Millhaven Institution since his transfer to Canada last September from Guantanamo Bay, where he had been held for a decade.
Khadr had pleaded guilty before a military commission in October 2010 to five war crimes — among them killing a U.S. special forces soldier — committed as a 15 year old in Afghanistan. He was given a further eight years behind bars.
Edney says his team would be filing an appeal first with a military commission, and then later in the U.S. civil courts if necessary, to overturn all of Khadr's convictions.
Edney says he's "very confident" the convictions will be overturned particularly since American appeal courts have already thrown out two similar military commission verdicts after ruling the crimes did not exist under international law of war at the time.
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TORONTO - Omar Khadr's lawyer says the former Guantanamo Bay detainee plans to appeal his terrorism convictions.
Dennis Edney says if the appeal is successful, the Toronto-born 26-year-old will walk free.
Khadr has been held in Ontario's maximum security Millhaven Institution since his transfer to Canada last September from Guantanamo Bay, where he had been held for a decade.
Khadr had pleaded guilty before a military commission in October 2010 to five war crimes — among them killing a U.S. special forces soldier — committed as a 15 year old in Afghanistan. He was given a further eight years behind bars.
Edney says his team would be filing an appeal first with a military commission, and then later in the U.S. civil courts if necessary, to overturn all of Khadr's convictions.
Edney says he's "very confident" the convictions will be overturned particularly since American appeal courts have already thrown out two similar military commission verdicts after ruling the crimes did not exist under international law of war at the time.
Yahoo! News Canada - Latest News & Headlines
