Ottawa gets Omar Khadr documents, videos from U.S.
Information pertains to Khadr's mental evaluations by U.S. authorities
American military authorities have handed over to Ottawa videotapes and documents related to Omar Khadr.
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews had requested the documents to help him decide if the Guantanamo Bay prisoner would pose a threat if transferred to Canadian custody.
Toews' spokeswoman, Julie Carmichael, says they received the videotapes and transcripts of Khadr's mental evaluations this afternoon.
He says when the items are reviewed, the minister will give them the appropriate consideration and render a decision in accordance with Canadian law.
One of Khadr's Canadian lawyers says there's now no reason for Toews to delay the decision any longer given Canada's commitment almost two years ago to take him back.
Video of the assessments by a civilian and a military psychiatrist were sealed by the military commission that convicted the Canadian citizen of war crimes.
In exchange for pleading guilty to five crimes that included murder in violation of the law of war, Khadr was sentenced to a further eight years in prison — one of which was to be served in Guantanamo Bay, the rest in Canada.
Khadr was 15 years old when he was captured, badly wounded, in Afghanistan in July 2002.