Omar Khadr who was captured at the age of 15 had pleaded guilty to five war crimes including murder
A former teenage al-Qaida fighter has been sentenced to eight more years in custody under the terms of a plea agreement which was unsealed after a military sentencing jury said he should serve 40 years for war crimes.
Omar Khadr looked straight ahead as a military judge imposed the eight-year sentence, ending a legal case that began when the Canadian son of a major al-Qaida figure was captured at the age of 15 with severe wounds in Afghanistan in 2002 after a four-hour gun battle.
Khadr pleaded guilty on 25 October to five war crimes including murder for throwing a grenade that killed an American special forces doctor, Sergeant 1st Class Christopher Speer. Military prosecutors said it was no routine battlefield killing because the Canadian was not a legitimate soldier, but an al-Qaida fighter.
Speer's widow, Tabitha cheered when the jury announced its 40-year sentence.
Under terms of the plea deal, the US agreed to send the now 24-year-old Khadr, the last Western prisoner at the US military base at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, back to his homeland after one more year in custody. He has been held at Guantánamo for eight years.
The Toronto-born Khadr could have received up to life in prison if convicted at trial of even one of the charges against him.
Melissa Lantsman, a spokeswoman for Canada's foreign affairs minister, declined to speculate about when Khadr might return. She said a decision will be made only when he formally applies for a transfer, and he will be treated like any other Canadian.
The Canadian Conservative government has steadfastly refused to request the return of Khadr, the reluctance owes partly to Canadians' ambivalence toward the Khadr family, which has been called "the first family of terrorism".
"Omar Khadr pleaded guilty to murdering US Army medic Christopher Speer," Lantsman said. "He pleaded guilty to attempted murder. He admitted he was a member of al-Qaida. He also publicly acknowledged that he planted roadside bombs and that he knew he was targeting civilians."
The Khadr case has been one of the most scrutinised at the Guantánamo war crimes tribunals, with critics saying that a battlefield death should not be treated as a murder case and that Khadr, whose father was a confidant of Osama bin Laden, was a "child soldier" pushed into militancy by his family.
Prosecutors said he deserved no special protection and argued that his actions were war crimes because al-Qaida fighters are not legitimate soldiers who follow the internationally accepted principles of war. Khadr admitted planting 10 roadside bombs in Afghanistan and spying on US convoys to study the best ways to attack them.
The jury began its deliberations after nearly a week of testimony that included a wrenching hour of testimony from Speer's widow about the loss of her husband and a 10-minute statement from Khadr, who apologised to the soldier's family in his most extensive public statements since his capture.
The jury also heard from a forensic psychiatrist testifying for the prosecution who said Khadr was a dangerous and angry radical.
Another witness, Navy Captain Patrick McCarthy, the former top military legal adviser at the detention centre, described Khadr as a "respectful" prisoner who could be rehabilitated.
"Fifteen-year-olds in my opinion should not be held to the same standards of accountability as adults," McCarthy said.
Before announcing the verdict, the jurors had asked that a tape of McCarthy's testimony be played again for them. The seven-member jury of military officers all declined to speak to reporters after the hearing.
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