'First Guantanamo video' released
A videotape of a detainee being questioned at the US' Guantanamo Bay prison camp has been released for the first time.
It shows 16-year-old Omar Khadr being asked by Canadian officials in 2003 about events leading up to his capture by US forces, Canadian media say.
Mr Khadr is accused of throwing a grenade that killed a US soldier during a gun battle in Afghanistan in 2002.
He is seen in a distressed state and complains he has been tortured.
The footage was made public by Mr Khadr's lawyers following a Supreme Court ruling in May that the Canadian government had to hand over key evidence against him to allow a full defence of the charges he is facing.
'Disgraceful treatment'
During the 10-minute video - filmed secretly through a ventilation shaft - Mr Khadr can be seen crying, his face buried in his hands, and pulling at his hair.
He can be heard repeatedly chanting: "Help me."
At one point he tells the foreign ministry official and agents from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) that he was tortured while being held at the US military detention centre at Bagram air base in Afghanistan.
He raises his orange shirt to show the wounds he sustained and tells them: "You don't care about me."
One of Mr Khadr's lawyers, Dennis Edney, said they hoped the video would create an outcry in Canada and pressure Prime Minister Stephen Harper to demand the US not prosecute their client.
"I hope Canadians will be outraged to see the callous and disgraceful treatment of a Canadian youth," Mr Edney told the Toronto Star newspaper.
"Canadians should demand to know why they've been lied to."
A mixture of law, politics, autobiography and humour. Once described as "The Devilish Advocate" (Guardian), I do have the ability to provoke a response. Sometimes it comes from someone who uses a thought process, and sometimes from jerks usually associated with the knee.
Lt's get this straight - A Canadian youth..... what the fuck was he doing in Afghanistan?
ReplyDeleteQuote:
Mr Khadr, the only Westerner still held at the jail, was 15 when he was captured by US forces during a gun battle at a suspected al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan.
Unquote.
Did this young chap believe the shite which the faceless doom coons spun him which led him to make his journey to the promised land to free his landsfolk? Hmmm... and now he protests about how his captors treat him.... Hmmmm
Let me get this straight.... I always thought that when one volunteered for military service (for whatever the cause) one accepted the possible consequences??? Or am I Merangue?