Ex-Guantanamo detainee barred by Air Canada

[CHIMO]

A former Guantanamo Bay detainee who never faced charges was barred from a London-to-Toronto flight Friday after Air Canada cited U.S. security concerns, according to a prominent lawyer.

Dennis Edney, who represents Canadian Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr, had invited Moazzam Begg to speak at a conference Saturday on fear and justice and building bridges between Muslims and other communities.

Begg, a British man who was released from Guantanamo in 2005 and has since become an advocate for Guantanamo prisoners' rights, attempted to fly from London to Toronto on Friday morning.

But Air Canada told him the Canadian High Commission refused him permission to board on the basis that the plane "could be re-routed to the United States," Edney said.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/05/20/guantanamo-detainee-air-canada.html
May 20, 2011 7:41 PM ET