TORONTO — Video footage of a young Canadian detainee being interrogated at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay has sparked a fierce debate among Canadians who worry whether the case is hurting their country’s image.
Editorials, radio call-in shows and interactive websites have been bombarded by reactions ranging from sympathy to contempt for Toronto- born terrorism suspect Omar Khadr, who is shown sobbing for his mother and pleading for Canada’s help during the 2003 questioning by Canadian intelligence agents.
The seven hours of grainy footage recorded by a hidden camera were released by Khadr’s attorneys last week, providing the first look at interrogations inside the U.S. military prison.
“True, there are no visible torture scenes in this first glimpse of the notorious detention camp,” wrote the editorial board at The Toronto Star the day after the release. “Rather, what truly jolts the Canadian viewer is the realization that the whimpering from a despondent inmate, and the questions from a manipulative interrogator, come not from Americans or other foreigners, but from an entirely Canadian cast.”
The son of an alleged al-Qaeda financier who was raised in Afghanistan, Khadr is accused of throwing a grenade that killed a U.S. Special Forces soldier during a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan that left another soldier blinded in one eye.
Khadr, who was 15 at the time, was found in the rubble of a bombed-out compound badly wounded and near death.
Khadr’s defense team released the tapes to try to persuade the Canadian government to seek custody.
Canada’s Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Har per has maintained he will not seek Khadr’s return to Canada, and his position was unchanged after the release of the video.
Harper argues that the previous Liberal government decided that Khadr should face a war-crimes trial in Guantanamo. He says his Conservative government, which took office in 2006, sought assurances that Khadr would be treated humanely and that he cannot intervene now that Khadr’s legal process has already begun in Guantanamo.
Not everyone supports returning Khadr to Canada. The video footage has prompted a flurry of condemnation for Khadr and his family from Canadians who believe he should remain in Guantanamo to face a war-crimes trial.
Amid the debate, Canada’s former Prime Minister Paul Martin said this week he was wrong to allow Khadr to remain at the U.S prison.
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