Khadr's military lawyer pushing for Canadian help

Last Updated: Thursday, April 20, 2006 | 11:44 AM ET

CBC News

Omar Khadr's U.S. military attorney wants to have two Canadian lawyers officially added to the legal team defending the 19-year-old Canadian against murder charges.

Khadr has been in custody at the American military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 2002, after he was detained for allegedly killing a U.S. soldier by throwing a grenade during a battle in Afghanistan.

Lt.-Col. Colby Vokey said his client needs extra lawyers on his side, given what he calls the arbitrary nature of the military proceedings at Guantanamo.

Lt.-Col. Colby Vokey (CBC)

• FROM APRIL 19, 2006: U.S. releases list of Guantanamo detainees

"The rules of evidence apparently don't apply, or some of them may apply," Vokey told reporters at a news conference in Toronto on Thursday.

"Some of the rules are made by the presiding officers themselves, and they can change tomorrow."

Omar Khadr has been in U.S. military custody since the age of 15.

Presiding officer Col. Robert Chester has in recent weeks refused to confirm whether the Khadr case will be conducted using legal guidelines laid out in U.S. federal statutes, military law or international law.

Canadian lawyers working for free so far

Vokey is seeking to have lawyers Dennis Edney and Nate Whitling approved as members of Khadr's defence team.

So far, the two Canadian lawyers have been representing Khadr's Toronto-based family on a pro-bono basis.

• FROM FEB. 9, 2005: CSIS interrogated Khadr: lawyers

"[If] a Canadian boy [is] in Guantanamo Bay, I think it makes sense that a Canadian lawyer represents him," Edney said Thursday.

"From our understanding of the proceedings, Col. Vokey needs all the assistance he can get."

Vokey said that if the U.S. military does not approve the participation of Canadian lawyers soon, "it doesn't smell good at all."

Khadr's Toronto relatives 'very receptive' to visit

Vokey met with Khadr's family during his trip to Toronto this week, which was funded by the U.S. Defence Department.

"I see a family that's very concerned with one of its own ones," said the long-serving member of the U.S. Marine Corps who has been involved in "hundreds" of courts martial over the years.

"I did not know how receptive they would be to talking to me and they were very receptive. We had good long conversation yesterday and I got along with them very well."

• FROM JAN. 11, 2006: Jail Khadr for life, U.S. prosecutor says

Omar Khadr's father, Ahmed Said Khadr, was a financier for the al-Qaeda militant network and a close associate of leader Osama bin Laden before he was killed in a gun battle in Pakistan in 2003.

In the 1980s, he moved his family from Canada to Afghanistan, where they were involved in running an al-Qaeda training camp.

• FROM FEB. 19, 2006: U.S. judge finds Khadr estate liable for attack

Vokey said he had to put his own feelings aside while preparing to give Omar Khadr a full and fair defence on charges of murder, attempted murder, aiding the enemy and conspiracy – charges that have kept him in Guantanamo Bay for most of his adolescence.

"My first duty is to defend the constitution of the United States," he said.

He said the U.S. government has taken the position that "due process does not even apply in these proceedings. I find that very offensive."