XPost: can.politics, mtl.general, bc.politics   
   XPost: ab.politics   
   From: Panca@nyet.ca   
      
   I strongly suspect that the Supreme Court is about to teach the Harper   
   government a very real and lasting lesson on what happens when it ignores the   
   Constitutional rights of a Canadian citizen and flouts the rules of the Geneva   
   Agreement on the treatment of political prisoners.  Add to that mix his   
   government's collaboration with a country against the interests of one of its   
   own citizens.  . . .    This will be a case to watch.   
   _______________________________________________   
      
     — CP — Dec 11 2014   
      
      
   Omar Khadr’s youth status headed to top court   
      
   Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr is shown in an undated handout photo   
   from the Bowden Institution in Innisfail, Alta.  A decision by the Supreme   
   Court of Canada to hear the federal government's challenge of Khadr's youth   
   status stunned his lawyers on Thursday, although not much would have changed   
   for him if the decision had gone the other way.   
      
      
   TORONTO - A decision by the Supreme Court of Canada to hear the federal   
   government's challenge of Omar Khadr's youth status stunned his lawyers on   
   Thursday, although not much would have changed for him if the decision had gone   
   the other way.   
      
   Khadr, whose eyesight is said to be failing, had already agreed to remain in a   
   federal prison even though Alberta's top court had ruled unanimously he should   
   be deemed a young offender and moved to a provincial facility.   
      
   Nevertheless, the high court decision took his lawyers by surprise.   
      
   "I'm stunned," Nate Whitling, one of Khadr's lawyers, said from Edmonton   
   minutes after the high court said it would hear the case.   
      
   "We're of the view there's no merit whatsoever to the government's position."   
      
   Khadr's lawyers had previously decided a penitentiary affords him better   
   program opportunities than he would get in the provincial system.   
      
   However, the bigger issue is that he remains classified as a medium-security   
   inmate, a security rating that compromises his chances for parole.   
      
   Although eligible for full parole since last July, Khadr has previously waived   
   a hearing given the concern he would be turned down and would have to wait at   
   least two more years for another try. However, he is currently slated to attend   
   a hearing in June.   
      
   Now in his 12th year in custody, Khadr is serving out a plea-bargained   
   eight-year sentence handed down by a widely discredited U.S. military   
   commission in October 2010 after he pleaded guilty to five war crimes,   
   including murder.   
      
   Although he was 15 years old when the offences occurred in Afghanistan in July   
   2002 — numerous legal experts say that makes him a youth under international   
   law — the military commission made no distinction between juveniles and   
   adults.   
      
   The Toronto-born Khadr was returned to Canada under the International Transfer   
   of Offenders Act in September 2012, requiring correctional authorities to   
   decide what the sentence meant under Canadian law.   
      
   Ottawa, which has branded Khadr, now 28, an unrepentant terrorist, argued his   
   military commission punishment was equivalent to five eight-year terms to be   
   served concurrently, making him an adult. Khadr's lawyers argued their client   
   had received a single global sentence of eight years, which could only be   
   considered a youth sentence under Canadian law.   
      
   In July, Alberta's top court sided with Khadr's view, prompting Ottawa to ask   
   the Supreme Court to hear the case — the third time the country's highest   
   court   
   will deal with the Toronto-born Khadr, who is currently incarcerated in Bowden   
   Institution in Innisfail, Alta. The two previous decisions went in his favour.   
      
   A spokesman for Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney said the government wants   
   to ensure Khadr stays in a federal penitentiary — "where he belongs."   
      
   "We are pleased with the decision of the Supreme Court to hear this matter,"   
   Jason Tamming said in an email. "We do not agree that a youth sentence is   
   appropriate."   
      
   Dennis Edney, another of Khadr's lawyers, said the federal appeal comes despite   
   the unanimous ruling by Alberta's top court. The government has already wasted   
   millions of tax dollars litigating against his client, he said.   
      
   "This was a continuation of spiteful acts taken by this government to   
   demonstrate it is tough on crime," Edney said.   
      
   Khadr lost sight in one eye during a heavy bombardment in Afghanistan in which   
   the Americans captured him. The shrapnel wounds are now threatening the sight   
   in his other eye, the lawyer said.   
      
   "The fear of Omar going permanently blind is becoming a reality," Edney said in   
   an interview.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)