I must say that Jonathan Kay's spin about Omar Khadr and an apology from the Canadian government is pretty offensive to many folks

 I simply could not resist adding my two bits worth within a blizzard of neo can indignation and doubt anyone read anything I posted

http://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/omar-khadr-settlement-1.4189890

Omar Khadr deserves his settlement and his apology from the Canadian government: Jonathan Kay

3814 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.


 
Tom Abbott

I feel as strongly against this settlement as the author feels it is justified. Just my opinion....but shared by a lot of people in Canada and the US.

David Raymond Amos

@Tom Abbott Google two names sometime

David Raymond Amos Omar Khadr

John Henry

@Tom Abbott

If they had the Conservative bill C51 at the time this criminal and terrorist would have had his citizenship revoked. Then the liberal judges wouldn't be able to give a murderer $10M of our tax $.

David Raymond Amos

@John Henry FYI Most of the judges now seated on the benches throughout Canada were appointed by Harper

David Raymond Amos

@Tom Abbott Just so ya know the Yankees threatened to take me to Guantanamo in 2003 and the liberal AND the Conservatives have been BOTH covering it up ever since. Anyone can check pages 1 and 2 of this very old file of mine.

https://www.scribd.com/doc/2718120/integrity-yea-right

Amy G. Bahned

@John Henry

A civil court can't find a person guilty of murder. You don't understand basic law.

David Raymond Amos

@Amy G. Bahned I disagree One can sue for wrongful death. In 1982 I was involved in such litigation against the RCMP. It ended with the Crown paying off the widow in confidence and justice was not served. The killer cop retired as an Assistant Commissioner. I blame the lawyers for that injustice. Since then one lawyer became a judge and then was exposed years later for having a man falsely imprisoned for murder. The Crown settled that matter as well and again justice was not served

Furthermore checkout the lawsuit the RCMP are arguing about the wrongful death of Greg Matters Trust that I have spoken to the interested parties

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/greg-matters-mother-suing-rcmp-for-shooting-her-son-1.2761312

A fair question to ask me is do I have a bone to pick with lawyers and the RCMP? You betcha.

 

David Raymond Amos

@Amy G. Bahned Query Federal Court File No T-1557-15 and Federal Court of Appeal File no. A-48-16 to see if you can figure out how many years I will have to wait for an apology and a cheque.

David Raymond Amos

@Amy G. Bahned Gee I thought I ran for a seat in Parliament a few times? Seems that CBC did not mention it for Harper's benefit.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/fundy-royal-riding-profile-1.3274276

 
Abdullah Massari

I feel less and less Canadian. What is there to be proud of? Buzzwords such as "diversity and inclusion". Disgusting. What happened to personal responsibility? No, everyone is a victim in the eyes of a liberal.

David Raymond Amos

@Abdullah Massari Relax Jonathan Kay is not the legend CBC thinks he is



Abdullah Massari

I feel less and less Canadian. What is there to be proud of? Buzzwords such as "diversity and inclusion". Disgusting. What happened to personal responsibility? No, everyone is a victim in the eyes of a liberal.

Dan Nowak

@Chuck Hamilton Omar's settlement is a direct result of the bone headed intransigence of the Conservative Party and Harper's arrogant belief that he could ignore the Supreme Court. Far too many people here are willing to jettison our laws and Charter of rights the moment they become a burden or contradict their dogma.

David Raymond Amos

@Dan Nowak Oh So True Sir



Abdullah Massari

Wow, stop this propaganda! This is insane. Has the world gone mad? Liberalism will destroy civilization.

David Raymond Amos

@Abdullah Massari I looks to me that you promote the opposition's propaganda Kinda like the pot calling the kettle names ain't it?

 

Marc Henry

I feel badly that Khadr was raised by a terrorist father and dragged to Afghanistan to fight. But I don't believe that making him a millionaire on the back of every Canadian taxpayer is really justice. I feel it's a slap in the face to us all. I know some will disagree. I don't care.

David Raymond Amos
@Marc Henry Canadian taxpayers really need to understand that justice and democracy are myths. Trudeau "The Younger" is just doing what is political correct to keep his fan base happy. What disgusts me the most about all of this is all the lawyers who made small fortunes arguing this matter and that Maher Arar, Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou-Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin for years. Its truly amazing how many of the lawyers involved are now judges. Now the lawyers are settling the last of matters in secret once again. Trust that Khadr's lawyers will get a big piece of the final settlement as well. Hence he won't be as wealthy as ya think

Maryam McKinnon

@David Raymond Amos Wow thanks got the info.

 
Dave Jones

The CBC is fire on all cylinders to promote its Liberal agenda and support for Khadr. What a joke the CBC has become. Doesn't speak for Canadians anymore.

David Raymond Amos

@Dave Jones I disagree The CBC has always spoke for Canadians but only certain Canadians and never in a non partisan fashion as per their mandate tis all

Jackson Farley

Ashamed to call myself a Canadian.

Molly Earl

@Jackson Farley Then leave.

David Raymond Amos

@Molly Earl I was ashamed when Chretien, Martin and Harper were our Prime Minister but I didn't leave. I ran for public office five times instead with no false illusions of ever being elected. However it felt good to register my indignation towards their malicious nonsense. Canada has gone from the peace keepers we once were in my youth to minor war mongers supporting greedy Yankees for no good reason I will ever understand.

Alfred Sterl

This is how severe political correctness has become. People actually believe he is the victim. Then they say if you don't agree its just showing hate. M103, changing our anthem, and now this. I almost don't recognize Canada anymore.

Ray Rohr

@Alfred Sterl
Yes this is totally outrageous. The Liberal government is paying Omar almost as much as the Edmonton Oilers are paying Connor McDavid for each year he plays hockey for them. How unCanadian is that!!!

David Raymond Amos

@Ray Rohr What nerve EH?

 

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David Raymond Amos

@Ray Rohr How much were you paid to post the same comment in five threads thus far?

David Raymond Amos

@David Raymond Amos Oh My My wasn't that a telling thing when CBC blocked that comment? Hell with one click on the dude's ID CBC own records easily proves what I commented about was true N'esy Pas Hubby Lacroix and Minister Joly?

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David Raymond Amos 

@David Raymond Amos I might as well quit for the night. To wait over an hour to see if CBC is gonna block your comment or not then wait another hour or so to see if anyone responded is ridiculous waste of any taxpayer's time and dime. To think that the liberals upped the funding of CBC's government propaganda then have us show true IDs in order to be monitored and edited by anonymous people while being overseen by a Harper appointee makes me wonder who is nuts, Its either CBC or you or me N'esy.

Omar Khadr deserves his settlement and his apology from the Canadian government: Jonathan Kay

Brainwashed child soldiers aren’t responsible for their actions

By Jonathan Kay, for CBC News Posted: Jul 05, 2017 5:00 AM ET

Omar's father was a terrorist commander who raised his child to follow in his footsteps. (Terry Reith/CBC) 

This week, NPR aired a profile of "Kevin," a New Jersey man who went to jail for consuming online child pornography. When you hear the description of the material Kevin downloaded, it's hard not to be disgusted. And yet, against all odds, Kevin emerges as a somewhat sympathetic figure.

Kevin has epilepsy, and to treat it, surgeons had removed parts of his brain that affect self-control — a procedure that led to a condition called Klüver-Bucy Syndrome. The judge in his case showed lenience after Kevin's longtime doctor, a neuroscientist, testified that every single person in the courtroom would be at risk of committing similar crimes if they'd experienced similar surgery. Such cases force us to deal with a profound question at the heart of criminal law: when are human beings morally responsible for their actions?

Omar's upbringing

No one is alleging that Omar Khadr — who is now reportedly set to receive a settlement of more than $10 million from the Canadian government — had part of his brain surgically removed before he killed U.S. Army Sergeant Christopher Speer in Afghanistan. But the story of Khadr's life leading up to that deadly July 27, 2002, encounter gets us to the same moral terrain.

Omar's father, Ahmed Said Khadr, was a terrorist commander who raised his child to follow in his footsteps. Canadian-born Omar was enlisted as an al-Qaeda errand boy when he was still a tween. And the terrorist group's website praised the father for "tossing his little child in the furnace of the battle." Whether brain tissue is cut out with a scalpel or moulded by a sociopathic parent, the destruction of moral agency is the same. No one reading this can say, with certainty, that his or her life would have turned out different from Omar Khadr's if he or she was raised as he was.

Canadian-born Omar was enlisted as an al-Qaeda errand boy when he was still a tween. (U.S. Department of Defence/Associated Press)

The idea that children aren't always responsible for their actions is encoded in criminal law. And modern brain-study research shows that brain development (particularly in regard to the prefrontal cortex, which shows us the consequences of our impulses) isn't complete until we're well into our 20s.

I thought of Omar Khadr's case last month, when I read Sarah A. Topol's unforgettable New York Times magazine feature on four Nigerian boys abducted from a small fishing village, and forced into service with the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram.

One of the abductees, Mustapha, was the same age as Khadr—15—at the time turbaned men threw him into the back of a truck and drove off into the hinterland. Under Boko Haram's tutelage, Mustapha became a drugged-up killing machine, even rising to the level of local commander. He lost count of how many men, women and children he'd slaughtered. His victims were mostly helpless villagers, old men, even babies. The tales are medieval.

Yet by the time you've read to the end of Topol's article — and learn that, three years later, Mustapha has escaped Boko Haram and become a workaday taxi driver — there is nothing in you that rebels against his reintegration into civilian life.

I read Mustapha to be a traumatized child soldier seeking to please the overlords who controlled his fate.

Life is cheap for Boko Haram, and Mustapha had seen first-hand what happened to his childhood friends who'd attempted to resist abduction or indoctrination. Even though his actions were monstrous, the true monster is Boko Haram, not the brainwashed boys that Boko Haram conscripted.

I feel the same way about Omar Khadr and al-Qaeda, which is why I support the government's settlement offer and apology to Khadr, ostensibly for its role in his imprisonment and mistreatment at Guantanamo Bay.

• Ottawa reportedly set to pay millions to Omar Khadr
• Omar Khadr's criminal record in Canada shows 'absolute ignorance,' lawyer says
  

The lingering image of Khadr as a lone child among adults at Gitmo remains unsettling to me. As Human Rights Watch notes: "No existing international tribunal has ever tried a child offender for war crimes."

Also unsettling is the almost unhinged zeal with which some anti-terror hawks in this country cheered on his continued imprisonment, and insisted that any demand for lenience was akin to terrorist propaganda.

One popular pundit even wrote a book-length attack on Khadr, describing him as "every bit as demented as Paul Bernardo," "the James Bond of Jihad," "the prince of al-Qaeda" and "the biggest, smartest, most deadly fish in a pond teeming with the most vicious, depraved men on Earth." (He also predicted that a freed Khadr might feel empowered to spend his time "loitering outside synagogues and Hebrew schools." To my knowledge, this is not how Khadr— who has publicly forsworn jihad and radical Islam — occupies his days.)

Khadr deserves his apology, and his money — even if it won't buy him back his lost Gitmo years. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

This is the language of right-wing social panic. We heard a lot of it in the months and years after Sept. 11 attacks, until Western societies eventually learned to do a better job balancing security versus civil rights, fear versus compassion. But in the peculiar case of Khadr, this social panic was singularly stubborn: when Khadr finally was released from prison in 2015, Prime Minister Stephen Harper still refused to admit that he'd gone overboard in his effort to keep the former child soldier locked up.

The question of when a human being — especially a child — is morally culpable for his or her actions is complex and wrenching. Even the judge in the child-porn case described at the top of this article admitted that she was conflicted.

Finding the correct balance becomes impossible in a climate of hysteria and paranoia. Khadr deserves his apology, and his money — even if it won't buy him back his lost Gitmo years. If the outlay helps us remember not to lose our moral compass the next time a child soldier comes up for judgment, it will pay dividends for years to come. 

 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/goodale-freeland-settlement-apology-1.4016572

Federal government reaches settlement with 3 Canadian men tortured in Syria and Egypt

Ralph Goodale and Chrystia Freeland apologize for Canada's role in their detention and mistreatment

By Nazim Baksh, Terence McKenna, CBC News Posted: Mar 17, 2017 5:15 PM ET

Muayyed Nureddin, left, Abdullah Almalki, centre, and Ahmad Elmaati. (Canadian Press)

After months of on and off negotiations, the federal government has reached a settlement with three Canadian men as compensation for the role Canadian officials played in their torture in Syria and Egypt.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland issued a statement Friday saying that with the settlement and an apology from government, the civil case involving Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou-Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin was now closed.

"On behalf of the government of Canada, we wish to apologize to Mr. Almalki, Mr. Abou-Elmaati and  Mr. Nureddin, and their families, for any role Canadian officials may have played in relation to their detention and mistreatment abroad and any resulting harm," the statement said.

The statement does not provide any details about the nature of the settlements reached, financial or otherwise.

'I was shocked that my country, which was supposed to work for my safety, let me end up in the torture chamber.' - Muayyed Nureddin

The settlement averts a long and potentially embarrassing trial for the government that was set to begin late last month.

It comes 15 years and two federal inquiries after the detention and torture of the three men.

"Our clients are gratified to have received an apology from the highest level of the Canadian government," Phil Tunley, a lawyer representing the three men, told CBC News in an emailed statement. "They and their families are pleased that their long legal ordeal is over."

Ten years ago, they each filed $100-million lawsuits against the government but temporarily halted their legal proceedings to allow former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci to conduct an internal inquiry. In his 2008 report, Iacobucci concluded that Canadian officials were indirectly responsible for their torture.
In 2009, the House of Commons called on the government to provide compensation and a formal apology to Almalki, Elmaati and Nureddin and to do everything necessary to correct misinformation about them that may exist in records administered by national security agencies in Canada or abroad.

The three men have been waiting until now.

Official documents

Lawyers representing Almalki, Elmaati and Nureddin fought and eventually won a lengthy court battle against the RCMP and CSIS to gain access to thousands of heavily redacted files, amounting to hundreds of thousands of pages.

They consist of internal memos, briefing notes from field agents to their superiors, interagency communications, emails, reports and even a memo that shows at least one senior RCMP officer might have had serious doubts about evidence suggesting Almalki was engaged in nefarious activity.

(Natalie Holdway/CBC)

CBC News obtained exclusive access to some 18,000 pages, which showed that Canadian law enforcement officials not only knew three Canadians were being tortured in Syrian jails in a post-9/11 crackdown but also co-operated with Syrian officials in their interrogations.

• Documents show CSIS and RCMP's role in post-9/11 torture of 3 Canadians in Syria

The files also show that a Canadian ambassador helped to deliver questions the RCMP and CSIS wanted put to the Canadians imprisoned in Syria, a country with a dismal human rights record.

The revelations were featured in The Torture Files, a 2016 joint investigation by The National and The Fifth Estate.

Revelations arose from Maher Arar case

The circumstances surrounding the detention and torture of ​Almalki, Elmaati and Nureddin were substantially similar to those of Syrian-Canadian Maher Arar.

A 2006 inquiry led by Justice Dennis O'Connor found that Canadian officials played a role in Arar's torture, and he received an apology and $10.5 million from the federal government. O'Connor also recommended a review of Almalki, Elmaati and Nureddin's cases.

Following an internal inquiry, Frank Iacobucci released his report on Oct. 21, 2008, which found the actions of Canadian officials contributed indirectly to the torture of Almalki, Elmaati and Nureddin in Syria and Egypt. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Almalki, a Syrian-born graduate in electrical engineering from Ottawa's Carleton University with a successful electronics export business, was arrested in May 2002 upon his arrival in Damascus to visit family. He was held in custody for 22 months.

He said he was beaten and tortured for seven hours on his first day of detention. His interrogators asked him whether he sold equipment to the Taliban or al-Qaeda. They wanted Almalki to tell them what he was planning in Canada and demanded he confess to being Osama bin Laden's "right-hand man."

Almalki said he was lashed hundreds of times on the soles of his feet, his legs, genitals and other parts of his body. The beatings were so severe, his legs were soaked in his own blood and he experienced paralysis from his waist down.

(Natalie Holdway/CBC)

Almalki blames the Canadian government for his ordeal

"They caused the torture to happen, they caused the detention to happen," he told CBC's The Fifth Estate in June 2016. "They caused huge losses in my business. My brothers, their lives got destroyed. My kids, their lives got destroyed."

'They have betrayed me'

Elmaati went to Damascus to get married in the fall of 2001. He was handcuffed and hooded at the airport and taken to a Syrian prison and tortured. Then he was put on a private jet and sent to Egypt, where he was tortured further. He was released in January 2004.

"I believe that my government have mistreated me," Elmaati told The Fifth Estate last summer. "They have betrayed me, betrayed my trust. And they did not help me in a time of need."

Nureddin, a principal at an Islamic school in Toronto, was detained by Syrian officials in December 2003 as he crossed the border from Iraq.

(Natalie Holdway/CBC)

He said he had no doubt that the questions he was being asked in Syria came from CSIS and the RCMP.
"I was shocked that my country, which was supposed to work for my safety, let me end up in the torture chamber," he said.

Nureddin was held for 34 days in a Syrian dungeon before he was released and allowed to return to Canada.

"My reputation has been damaged," he told The Fifth Estate last year. "So basically I am living in a limbo. I'm not above the ground nor am I under the grave."


 http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/abdelrazik-settlement-rcmp-1.4008183

Government settles with Abdelrazik after 'grossly unfair' leak, RCMP still investigating

2011 article in Montreal newspaper based on secret documents and intended to discredit him, lawyer says

By Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press Posted: Mar 03, 2017 10:15 AM ET 

Abousfian Abdelrazik, seen here at a news conference on Parliament Hill after his return to Canada in 2009, claims he was tortured while in custody in Sudan and falsely labelled a terrorist. ((Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press))

The federal government has quietly settled the lawsuit of a Montreal man who complained he was smeared by inflammatory and false accusations about extremist activities.

It is the latest twist in the saga of Abousfian Abdelrazik, who denies any involvement in terrorism.
Abdelrazik, 55, reached a "satisfactory settlement" with the government over a 2011 disclosure intended to discredit him, said Paul Champ, his lawyer.

• Abdelrazik presses for records of his detention in Sudan
• Abdelrazik says still fighting 'terrorist' label

The information appeared in an August 2011 article by Montreal newspaper La Presse based on secret documents and was subsequently reported by a number of national and international media outlets.

Terms of the settlement are confidential. However, Abdelrazik's statement of claim, filed in Federal Court in 2013 and amended the following year, sought financial compensation.

Justice Department spokeswoman Francoise Trudeau-Reeves confirmed the settlement but declined to discuss details.

The RCMP's criminal investigation into the leak continues, said Cpl. Annie Delisle, a spokeswoman for the police force.

Claims torture while in custody

Abdelrazik's lawsuit said the only people who could have leaked the "selective and grossly unfair" secret documents in question were Canadian government officials.

In a statement of defence filed with the Federal Court, the government denied the allegations and any responsibility for the leak. It said the information published by La Presse was generally already on the public record through sources including media reports and court documentation.

Abdelrazik came from Africa as a refugee in 1990 and attained Canadian citizenship five years later.
He was arrested but not charged during a 2003 visit to see his ailing mother in Sudan.

While in Sudanese custody, he was interrogated by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service about suspected extremist links.

Abdelrazik claims he was tortured by Sudanese intelligence officials during two periods of detention, but Canada says it knew nothing of the alleged abuse.

Days after Abdelrazik's second release from prison, in July 2006, his name turned up on a United Nations Security Council blacklist that prevented him from flying back to Canada.

He was granted haven in the Canadian consulate in Khartoum, but Canada refused to issue him a travel document to fly home. Amid intense publicity about his case, he returned to Montreal in June 2009.

That same month, the Federal Court of Canada concluded CSIS was complicit in Abdelrazik's 2003 detention.

Seeking apology, compensation

The 2011 leak came as Abdelrazik was petitioning to have his name removed from the UN blacklist and "someone in the government felt it was an opportune moment to smear Mr Abdelrazik in this public way," Champ said.

In its statement of defence, the government denies that allegation.

Abdelrazik's name was removed from the UN list in late 2011.

In a separate lawsuit still grinding through the courts, Abdelrazik seeks compensation and an apology from the federal government for his prolonged ordeal in Sudan.

The Liberal government is expected to soon give apologies and compensation to three Canadians who were tortured in Syrian prison cells.

A federal inquiry concluded nine years ago that Canadian officials contributed to the brutalization of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El Maati and Muayyed Nureddin by sharing information with foreign agencies.