Friday 25 January 2008

Robert Badinter is amicus curiae in Omar Khadr case

Omar Khadr is a Canadian citizen, detained by the Americans at GuantanamoBay, for crimes allegedly committed when he was fifteen years of age. Unlike other governments, who have put pressure successfully on Washington to obtain the repatriation of their own nationals, the Canadian government has been complacent. French Senator Robert Badinter, an iconic figure in international human rights who successfully campaigned to abolish the death penalty in France when he was minister of justice, has prepared an amicus curiae brief that is signed by a number of international law specialists, including myself. Important excerpts from the brief were published in the leading French newspaper, Le Monde, a couple of days ago: http://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/2008/01/22/omar-khadr-n-est-pas-un-ennemi-combattant-il-est-d-abord-une-victime_1002236_0.html. For a brief English account in the English language, see AFP: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gL-0ymKjxmpdKsI9_B3jPUT6C24w. See also the posting of 10 November 2007 on the Khadr case, on this blog.

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