After a slew of court challenges demanding his homecoming and a decade in Guantanamo Bay, convicted terrorist Omar Khadr is back in Canada.
Khadr landed at CFB Trenton military base Saturday morning after being transported from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, aboard a U.S. government plane and was then brought to Millhaven maximum-security prison in Bath, Ont.
In a hastily organized news conference in Winnipeg, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said Khadr is now in the hands of Canada's correctional services, which he is satisfied it can ?administer Omar Khadr's sentence in a manner which recognizes the serious nature of the crimes that he has committed and ensure the safety of Canadians is protected during incarceration.?
The 26-year-old Toronto-native struck a plea deal in 2010 that saw him sentenced to eight years in prison for five war crimes, including killing U.S. special forces medic Christopher Speer 10 years ago in an Afghan firefight.
He was captured in 2002 when he was 15.
Despite green-lighting the repatriation, Toews expressed several concerns about the case to the media Saturday.
These included that Khadr has "had very little contact with Canadian society and therefore will require substantial management in order to ensure safe reintegration" and that he has "participated in terrorist training, military operations, and meetings involving al-Qaida leadership."
Brydie Bethell, one of Khadr's Canadian lawyers, said her client is relieved to be back on Canadian soil, and described him as being ?in a state of disbelief and really pinching himself wondering when he's going to wake up from this dream.?
?This is someone the correctional authorities will think is a miracle. He's the kind of prisoner they hope everyone would be,? she added.
His advocates ? many who maintain he was a child soldier at the time of his capture ? were cheering his return Saturday.
They included Amnesty International Canada and the federal New Democrats and Liberals ? though the Grits didn't push for his repatriation when they were in power before 2006.
Ottawa could be on the hook for multi-million dollar payout after the Supreme Court ruled in 2010 Khadr's charter rights were violated during his time in U.S. custody.
A Canadian citizen and the last Western detainee held at Guantanamo Bay, Khadr had been petitioning the Canadian government for his return since as early as 2005.
As per a diplomatic agreement signed between the U.S. and Canada in 2010 regarding Khadr's repatriation, his personal transfer application landed on Toews' desk in March 2011 and the minister received the formal U.S. application in April.
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Source: http://www.intelligencer.ca/2012/09/29/omar-khadr-back-in-canada-reports
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