Globe and Mail: Experts say there are options for Khadr

[tuvor]

OTTAWA, TOKYO — Legal experts and opposition MPs have rejected Prime Minister Stephen Harper's assertion that Canada has no choice but to let Omar Khadr work his way through Guantanamo Bay's widely condemned legal system.

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“It is preposterous that a Prime Minister of Canada would say that there's nothing he can do,” said Lieutenant-Commander William Kuebler, Mr. Khadr's U.S. military defence lawyer. “He can stand up as the Prime Minister of Canada and protect the rights of a Canadian citizen … and he can stop taking his orders from the Bush administration and stop being the last leader of a Western country to subsidize a failed process in Guantanamo Bay.”

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University of Ottawa law professor Craig Forcese led a team of law students last year who studied the question of Canada's legal options in the Khadr case. They submitted a 153-page report to the Senate human rights committee.

“Yes, there are alternatives,” Prof. Forcese said. In reviewing the cases of other countries that have secured the release of their citizens and permanent residents, Mr. Forcese said it comes down to behind-the-scenes negotiation. “It's always been political,” he said.

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