TORONTO (AP) ― Canada said Wednesday that the U.S. wants to send back the last remaining Western detainee at Guantanamo, and the Canadian government must now decide whether to take him.
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews is considering repatriating Omar Khadr, the ministry said in a statement. It did not say when a decision was expected, but a U.S. official suggested it could be soon.
Khadr, 25, pleaded guilty in 2010 to killing a U.S. soldier and was eligible to return to Canada from Guantanamo Bay last October under terms of a plea deal. Khadr was 15 when he was captured in 2002, and he has spent a decade in Guantanamo. He received an eight-year sentence in 2010 ― but only one year had to be served at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.
John Norris, Khadr’s Canadian lawyer, said Khadr likely would be imprisoned in Canada and serve out his sentence under Canadian law. He thinks that would make Khadr eligible for parole as early as the spring of 2013.
