Index

Saturday, November 3, 2007

[wvns] Canadian's lawyer barred from Guantamo trial

Khadr's lawyer barred from Guantamo trial
Jane Sutton
Reuters
Thursday, November 01, 2007
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=fc0cb427-de17-4435-b3ec-f\
563af9617d2


MIAMI - A civilian lawyer for the only Canadian terrorism suspect held
at Guantanamo said yesterday he had been barred from his client's
hearing at the U.S. base next week because of a dispute with military
defence lawyers.

The Canadian lawyer, Dennis Edney, said he was prevented from visiting
Toronto-born Omar Khadr, who is accused by a U.S. military war crimes
tribunal of throwing a grenade that killed one American soldier and
wounded another during a firefight at an alleged al-Qaeda compound in
Afghanistan in 2002.

Mr. Edney said the ban came after he disagreed with and publicly
criticized the U.S. military lawyers appointed to defend Mr. Khadr,
who was 15 years old and severely wounded when he was captured. He is
now 21.

"It's certainly not in Khadr's best interest," Mr. Edney said by
telephone. "It's a violation of the accepted right to counsel. They
obviously don't want me speaking to Khadr before the arraignment."

Military defence lawyers did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

The detention camp that opened in 2002 at the Guantanamo naval base in
Cuba holds about 330 non-Americans accused of links to al- Qaeda or
associated Islamist militant groups. So far, just one person has been
convicted in the war crimes trials, and that was the result of a plea
bargain.

The dispute among Mr. Khadr's lawyers came to light as the U.S.
military prepares to resume the widely criticized tribunals.

In June, the proceedings screeched to a halt when military judges
threw out the charges against Mr. Khadr and Yemeni prisoner Salim Hamdan.

The judges said they lacked jurisdiction because the two defendants
had not been designated "unlawful enemy combatants," as required under
the 2006 law that authorized military tribunals for foreign terrorism
suspects.

The distinction was crucial, the judges said, because international
law requires other types of trial for "lawful enemy combatants."

A newly convened military appeals court ruled that the judges
themselves had authority to decide whether defendants were "unlawful"
combatants and reinstated the charges.

A hearing was scheduled at Guantanamo for Nov. 8 to take up Mr.
Khadr's case.

Another is planned in December for Mr. Hamdan, who is accused of
driving and guarding al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Mr. Hamdan's
legal challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court forced the government to
scrap its first Guantanamo trial system.

*********************************************************************

WORLD VIEW NEWS SERVICE

To subscribe to this group, send an email to:
wvns-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

NEWS ARCHIVE IS OPEN TO PUBLIC VIEW
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns/

Need some good karma? Appreciate the service?
Please consider donating to WVNS today.
Email ummyakoub@yahoo.com for instructions.

To leave this list, send an email to:
wvns-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com


Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns/

<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns/join

(Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:wvns-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:wvns-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
wvns-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:

http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

No comments: