Omar Khadr has a won a lawsuit against the government of Canada following his 10 years of detention as a minor in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay over a firefight.
Khadr’s lawyers had met with the Department of Justice attorneys in closed doors early last month to reach the deal.
While the details of the settlement are not yet disclosed, it is reportedly less than the $20 million sought in the civil suit, but more than $10 million, which was what Canadian Maher Arar received following his yearlong detention and torture in Syria in 2002.
Khadr was only 15 years old when he was shot and detained by U.S. Special Forces following a firefight in Afghanistan. The Pentagon charged Khadr with murder in violation of the laws of war, for the death of Delta Force soldier Sgt. Christopher Speer, who was fatally wounded in the July 2002 firefight.
Khadr’s lawyers have taken the federal government to court Three times over his constitutional rights, and three times the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favour of Khadr, writing in a unanimous 2010 decision that the participation of Canadian officials in Khadr’s Guantanamo interrogations “offends the most basic Canadian standards about the treatment of detained youth suspects.”
The settlement will most likely be split between Khadr and his lawyers, who have fought for the Toronto-born former detainee for years, with little compensation for their work. Edney and his wife Patricia have supported Khadr since his release on bail two years ago.
Khadr, now 30, recently moved into his own apartment in Edmonton and hopes to attend classes in the fall to become a nurse.
