Call him what you will: guilty, innocent, murderer, victim, terrorist, or maybe even, the terrorized.
Omar Khadr, detained in Guantanamo Bay for over six years, is accused of murdering a U.S. medic in 2002.
He was a child, only 15 years old at the time.
In the wake of U.S. President Barack Obama’s order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention centre within the next year, it is one indisputable label that will determine his future.
That label is ‘Canadian citizen’.
As the trials of the remaining detainees in Guantanamo will most likely end up in the U.S. federal court, to ease the burden on the system Khadr may be offered back to Canadian custody.
Whether the Canadian government likes it or not he will most likely be coming home.
But what will be his fate once he returns?
Khadr’s trial by the U.S. military commission was due to begin on Jan. 26, 2009. Now void, the government could choose to emulate the U.S. commission and try him in the Canadian federal justice system for his alleged crime.
This is a costly and timely process. With his anguished history, there is a better alternative – reintegration into civilized society.
With a case so controversial, reintegration offers Khadr a life of some normalcy that he has not had for over six years. He was linked to the terrorist group al-Qaeda as a 15-year-old boy, allegedly through his father’s influence. Upon his capture by U.S. military forces he was shot three times.
In The Huffington Post on Jan. 8, 2009, Andy Worthington’s report on Khadr’s case suggests his treatment has been with “a heartless disregard for his terrible wounds in the months following his capture, severe isolation in Guantanamo, and prolonged periods of abuse and humiliation.”
The reintegration process has proven successful in similar cases.
Australian al-Qaeda terrorist suspect and Guantanamo inmate David Hicks was repatriated from detention in 2007 by then- prime minister John Howard.
Following an assessment of his case on home soil, Australian officials deemed it safe for Hicks to be released into society, subject to a 12-month control order.
During his period of reintegration, the control order saw him report to a police station several times a week, adhere to a curfew from midnight to 6 a.m., and use a police-approved sim-card for his mobile phone.
This monitoring process was successful and Hicks proved his ability to live a calm and compliant life.
The control order was not renewed upon its expiry in 2008.
Our government may soon be given power to give Khadr a chance at a relatively normal life.
Like Hicks, he has spent a significant portion of his life in detention limbo.
Bearing witness to violence and bloodshed from such a young age, what should be focused on now is the rehabilitation of his fragile mental and physical well-being.
A Canadian emulation of the U.S. military trials will only hinder this process.