15 year old’s Guantanamo story

In 2002, 15 year-old Omar Khadr was sent to Guantanamo bay after killing US serviceman Christopher Speer with a hand grenade in Afghanistan. Khadr is a Canadian citizen who left for Afghanistan in 1997 when he was ten. He reportedly went through an Al-Qaida training school for four years, and graduated at 15.On July 27, 2002, Khadr was involved in a skirmish with a group of US soldiers. The group that Khadr was in surrendered, but he jumped out from hiding and threw a hand grenade at the soldiers. He killed Speer and injured three others. Khadr was shot three times and captured by the remaining soldiers. He was not charged with anything, given no sentence, or even had a hearing.In Guantanamo Bay, there is a smaller complex for child detainees named Camp Iguana. It is reported the children there are treated better, receive education, and are not required to wear the orange jumpsuits. In 2003, a child leaving Camp Iguana and returning to Afghanistan said he learned to read there.When Omar Khadr came to Guantanamo Bay in 2002, he was not put into Camp Iguana, but rather Camp Delta, the main prison at the base. He was put into solitary confinement for periods of time, left bound in uncomfortable positions, and generally treated inhumanely.Two years after that, he finally started to go through the “due process” for his capture. He was classified in 2004 as an enemy combatant by a review tribunal. In 2005 he was finally charged for his crimes, including multiple conspiracys, a count of murder of Speer, and attempted murder of the others of the squad, and one count of aiding the enemy.In February of this year, Khadr had a second round of charges. These included the original charges, but added this time around was providing material support for terrorism, and spying on US soldiers for the enemy.Between these two rounds of charges Khadr had a preliminary hearing and was put into solitary confinement for “the protection of the detainee,” as it was put by Comander Robert Durrand.Finally, in March, he was permitted to contact his mother by telephone and permitted to meet with lawyer. On June 4th, all of his second charges were dismissed, but he is still being detained for his first set.Omar Khadr is now 20 years old. He is still in Guantanamo Bay, awaiting an official trial. In his five years of detainment, he has participated in hunger strikes, been exposed to suicide, treated miserably, and abused by the United States. He has been denied US due process rights, and has been allowed limited to no contact with anyone. He was tried as an adult, because it is illegal to try a child for war crimes. No matter the crime, human rights cannot be denied to anyone, especially a teenager. It is time for the Canadian government to speak out, and question why this Canadian citizen is in US custody. It is even more necessary than it has ever been for international groups to look into US detainment, how it is done, and if it should be allowed. The United States should not be allowed to go against it’s own laws as it feels and get away with it, in this case of Omar Khadr