The Conservative government says it will appeal a court ruling that required it to figure out how to fix its breaches of Omar Khadr’s rights.
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson issued a statement Monday saying he would appeal the Federal Court decision last week that found the government had not done enough to protect the constitutional rights of the Toronto-born terrorism suspect. That ruling gave the government seven days to come up with a list of remedies.
“This case raises important issues concerning the Crown prerogative over foreign affairs,” Mr. Nicholson said in the statement.
“As the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in an earlier case involving Mr. Khadr, ‘it would not be appropriate for the court to give direction as to the diplomatic steps necessary to address the breaches of Mr. Khadr’s Charter rights.’”
The Justice Minister said Mr. Khadr “faces very serious charges, including murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, material support for terrorism, and spying” and the government continues to provide him with consular services.
The Pentagon has charged that Mr. Khadr, then 15, tossed a grenade that killed the soldier during a firefight between Taliban supporters and U.S. forces.
Mr. Khadr, 23, appeared in a military court in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on Monday. He called the military commission process is a “sham” and said he wants to fire his lawyers, “so nobody talks on my behalf.”
The Federal Court ruled last week that, as a Canadian citizen – the last Western national held at Guantanamo – is entitled to procedural fairness and natural justice.
Mr. Justice Russel Zinn ruled that Ottawa had not met the standard set by the Supreme Court of Canada in January when it ordered the federal government to right the wrongs it had brought on the 23-year-old accused of killing a U.S. soldier in 2002 in Afghanistan.
The top court declared that Mr. Khadr’s rights had been violated and it demanded the Harper government come up with a remedy.
The government sent a diplomatic note to Washington one month later asking that information Canadian officials obtained from Mr. Khadr during a 2003 visit to Guantanamo not be used in the prosecution against him.
Mr. Khadr’s lawyers said that wasn’t good enough and asked the Federal Court to review the response. They also criticized the government for ignoring their requests for a meeting to discuss the Supreme Court ruling, which stopped short of ordering the government to ask that Mr. Khadr be brought back to Canada.
Judge Zinn also concluded that the diplomatic simply note wasn’t remedy enough. Moreover, he found that Washington simply ignored the request Canada made in the diplomatic note.
