Initially published on GR on September 30, 2014

“The story of Omar and Guantanamo Bay reflects the failure of civil society, its institutions, and its people to speak out in ensuring our shared values of a just society are carried out.”  — DENNIS EDNEY

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Omar Khadr is a Canadian born of Egyptian and Palestinian parents. As a child, he had moved to Jalalabad Afghanistan with his family.

At 15, ten months after 9/11, Khadr was captured following a battle with US forces in the village of Ayub Kheyl, Afghanistan. Injured during the melee, he was accused of throwing a hand grenade and planting bombs targeting US Troops.

In October, Khadr was transferred to Guantanamo Bay, suspected of being an enemy combatant. He would reside at that facility for a decade before being released based on a plea bargain.

Khadr’s lawyer is Dennis Edney. Edney has taken on the Khadr case pro-bono and has been involved since 2003 representing his client at the Supreme Court of Canada and at the United States Supreme Court. Dennis Edney is recipient of the 2008 National Pro Bono Award and of the 2009 Human Rights Medal awarded by the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia for work that “has helped to promote and further human rights”.

The Global Research News Hour contacted Edney during his visit to Winnipeg, Canada on the occasion of the Grand opening of that city’s brand new Human Rights Museum. It also follows a dinner held in his honour.

video footage courtesy of Paul S. Graham

Edney discusses meeting Omar Khadr for the first time, the facts around the case, the rationale behind the Canadian government’s neglect of this young man, and what the young man’s decade-long incarceration says about the state of human rights in Canada.

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

The Global Research News Hour airs every Friday at 1pm CT on CKUW 95.9FM in Winnipeg. The programme is also podcast at globalresearch.ca .

The show can be heard on the Progressive Radio Network at prn.fm. Listen in every Monday at 3pm ET.

Community Radio Stations carrying the Global Research News Hour:

CHLY 101.7fm in Nanaimo, B.C – Thursdays at 1pm PT

Boston College Radio WZBC 90.3FM NEWTONS  during the Truth and Justice Radio Programming slot –Sundays at 7am ET.

Port Perry Radio in Port Perry, Ontario – Thursdays at 1pm ET

Burnaby Radio Station CJSF out of Simon Fraser University. 90.1FM to most of Greater Vancouver, from Langley to Point Grey and from the North Shore to the US Border. It is also available on 93.9 FM cable in the communities of SFU, Burnaby, New Westminister, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Surrey and Delta, in British Columbia Canada. – Tune in every Saturday at 6am.

CFRU 93.3FM in Guelph, Ontario. Tune in Wednesdays from 12am to 1am.