TORONTO — Burying his face in his hands, a 16-year-old captured in Afghanistan sobs and calls out “Oh, Mommy!” in a hidden-camera video released Tuesday that provides the first look at interrogations at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay.
Lawyers for Toronto-born Omar Khadr released the tapes in hopes of generating sympathy for the young prisoner and to try to persuade the Canadian government to seek custody before he is prosecuted for war crimes this year before the U.S. special tribunal at the base in Cuba.
The son of an alleged al-Qaeda financier, Khadr is accused of throwing a grenade that killed a U.S. Special Forces soldier during a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan.
Khadr, 15 at the time, was found in the rubble of a bombed-out compound, badly wounded and near death.
The seven hours of footage from four days of questioning by Canadian intelligence agents in 2003 shows Khadr breaking down in tears. At one point, he pleads for help and displays chest and back wounds that he says had not healed six months after his capture.
Peeling off his orange prisoner shirt, he shows the wounds and complains he has not received proper medical attention, despite requests.
In a 10-minute excerpt released by his Canadian lawyers, Khadr’s mood swings between calm and relief to rage and grief.
At first, believing that the Canadians were there to help him, Khadr smiles and repeats several times, “I’m very happy to see you.”
“I’ve been requesting the Canadian government for a very long time,” he says.
By the second day, however, he is seen in a frenzy of despair after realizing the Canadians are not there for his release, repeatedly moaning “Ya, Umi” — “Oh, Mommy” in Arabic — when left alone in the room.
Navy Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler, Khadr’s U.S. military lawyer, said the video shows “a frightened boy” who should be returned to Canada. He said Khadr was cooperative at the beginning of the questioning because “he believed that if he was cooperative and told them what he thought they wanted to hear, that they would take him home.”
A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. J.D. Gordon, denied Khadr was mistreated.
“Our policy is to treat detainees humanely, and Khadr has been treated humanely,” Gordon said.
