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U.S. Military Judge Dismisses Charges Against Canadian Held at Guantanamo Bay

Posted on: Monday, 4 June 2007, 15:00 CDT

By BETH GORHAM

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba (CP) - A U.S. military judge dismissed charges against Canadian detainee Omar Khadr on Monday in a bombshell ruling that threw into chaos the U.S. system for trying terror suspects held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.

The ruling by army Col. Peter Brownback, however, doesn't necessarily mean Khadr will be freed from the prison camp. American officials have said they can still legally hold him as an enemy combatant as long as the war on terror continues.

But it's a major blow for the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, giving hope to defence lawyers and activists who have long argued that Khadr and the other detainees at Guantanamo Bay should be tried in regular American courts.

Brownback, the presiding judge, said the military commission doesn't have jurisdiction over Khadr because he needs to be declared an "unlawful enemy combatant" first - instead of just an enemy combatant, who has the right to fight.

"The charges are dismissed without prejudice," he said. "A person could be facing trial for months without knowing whether the court had legitimate jurisdiction."

The discrepancy was a surprise and was raised by Brownback.

The system was revamped by Congress last year after the U.S. Supreme Court declared it was illegal. It was Congress that established the two categories of enemy combatants.

"The significance of this ruling today is enormous," said Col. Dwight Sullivan, chief defence counsel for the detainees.

"How much evidence do we need that the military commission system doesn't work?"

"Ideally this case wouldn't come back at all. There is a readily available alternative that does work," he said.

Defence lawyers and activist are hoping this decision will provide a big impetus to quash the system and have detainees tried in regular courts.

"If the U.S. government's wise, this should be a fatal blow to the military commissions," said Jennifer Daskal at Human Rights Watch.

Khadr, who fired his U.S. legal team last week, was led into court with two soldiers dressed in fatigues on either side holding each arm. Wearing a loose beige prisoner's uniform and sandals, Khadr had a full beard.

He didn't speak during the short hearing, but leaned in close to Dennis Edney, his Edmonton lawyer, who explained the process.

Edney and lawyer Nate Whitling were allowed for the first time to sit at the defence table on Monday.

Brownback's ruling came just minutes into Khadr's arraignment, in which he faced charges that he committed murder in violation of the law of war, attempted murder in violation of the law of war, conspiracy, providing material support for terrorism and spying.

Khadr had been classified as an "enemy combatant" by a military panel years earlier at Guantanamo Bay, but because he was not classified as an "alien unlawful enemy combatant," Brownback said he had no choice but to throw the case out.

The Military Commissions Act, signed by Bush last year after the U.S. Supreme Court threw out the previous tribunal system, says specifically that only those classified as "unlawful" enemy combatants can face war trials here.

Khadr was 15 when he was captured in Afghanistan after a firefight in 2002 in which he was wounded and allegedly killed a U.S. soldier with a grenade. He appeared in the courtroom with a beard and wearing an olive-green prison uniform.

He was one of only three detainees - among roughly 380 men held at this isolated military base on suspicion of links to the Taliban and al-Qaida - who have been charged under the new military tribunal system.

In Ottawa, Foreign Affairs officials said they were reviewing the situation but had no other immediate comment.

Source: Canadian Press

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