Trial against – child soldier – khadr

US terror report: Al-Ka />

Trial against "Child soldiers" Khadr

Sentenced to bin Laden’s cook

Afghanistan: Bad grades for Obama

"USA lose war in Afghanistan"

The trial of bin Laden’s ex-chef Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud Al-Qosi has been one of two lawsuits before a military commission in Guantanamo since President Barack Obama took office. In the other case, the Canadian Omar Khadr is currently responsible for killing a US soldier. The trial is considered particularly delicate since Khadr was only 15 when he was arrested.

The members of the jury were selected on Wednesday. Seven officers are now to decide the fate of the Canadian. The 23-year-old is the last citizen of a western country to be held in Guantanamo. Khadr, who spent more than a third of his life in the US prison camp, faces life imprisonment if convicted.

Confessions admitted

The Supreme Court had only rejected his lawyer’s request to stop the trial on Friday. A few hours before the trial started, a military judge ruled that Khadr’s confessions could be used in court. Khadr’s defense lawyer had argued that the testimony had been brought about by torture and had asked that it not be permitted.

Reuters / handout via Reuters TV (CUBA)

Khadr, 16 years old, during an interrogation in prison

The circumstances of the Khadr case are particularly delicate: the Canadian citizen was only 15 when he was seized by US soldiers in Afghanistan in 2002. He is accused of hurling a grenade at a US soldier and thereby killing him. He is also said to have maintained links to the al-Qaeda terror network.

"Special case"

The fate of the "child soldier" is being watched closely by US civil rights activists who criticize the prison as human rights violations – among other things because confessions were obtained from suspects under torture. "The case is so special because the accused was so young at the time of the arrest," said legal expert Benjamin Wittes from the Brookings Institute in Washington in advance. "This causes great discomfort at home and abroad."

Law professor Eugene Fidell from Yale University sees some basic questions that before the Tribunal must be solved: "Was Khadr a child or not? Is it legal under international law to convict a child soldier? " Should the If the charges are not convincing, "then they have to send Khadr home," said Fidell.

Sharp criticism of Obama

Khadr refuses to cooperate with the tribunal because he considers the court to be unlawful. However, the defendant will have a military defender at his side, as the rules provide. Army lawyer Jon Jackson, who is supposed to represent Khadr’s rights, is tough on the tribunal.

"When President Obama was elected, he wanted to put an end to Guantanamo and the military commissions," says Jackson. “Instead, Obama is now writing the next chapter in the miserable history of the military commissions. Obama’s military commission will go down in history as a case against a child soldier. ”

Selected journalists as observers

The lawsuit against Khadr could go up to, according to government officials four Take weeks. Khadr is expected to be sentenced to life in prison if convicted, according to CNN. The question of whether the convicts will serve their terms outside of Guantanamo remained unanswered. The human rights organization Amnesty International will attend the proceedings. The Pentagon also allowed 32 journalists to travel to the island.

Defeat for Obama

The tribunals created by President George W. Bush after the September 11, 2001 attacks are controversial in the United States. Obama had originally criticized her sharply and had all pending cases suspended shortly after taking office over a year and a half ago. However, his plea to allow the trials against all terrorist suspects to take place in US civil courts failed due to political resistance.

Obama then decided to bring at least some of the suspects to military commissions. However, Obama enforced in Congress that the accused will receive more rights in these trials than under Bush: confessions obtained through torture and ill-treatment should no longer be admissible as evidence. Despite this, Obama did not agree to the fact that some of his most loyal supporters failed to live up to his central election promise.

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Christina Cherry
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