Outcry over teen detainee

2008-07-23 17:07

Toronto - Video footage released last week of a young Canadian detainee's interrogation at Guantanamo has shaken Canadians, prompted much soul-searching and moved many to blame the country's Conservative government for sullying Canada's reputation as a caring, compassionate nation.

There have been loud debates in Parliament and editorials, and radio call-in shows and interactive websites have been bombarded by opinions from Canadians reacting to the video of Toronto-born terror suspect Omar Khadr sobbing for his mother and pleading for Canada's help during his 2003 interrogation by Canadian officials at the US prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Criticism of government

Khadr's case is the latest example of an approach by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Tory government that has left Canadians dismayed about their image abroad - one they feel was already tainted by Harper's reluctance to sign the Kyoto Protocol; his reticence to stop Canadian troops from transferring Afghan prisoners to local officials following reports that they were being tortured; and his enforcement of security certificates that enables the government to hold terror suspects indefinitely without charges.

The son of an alleged al-Qaeda financier who was raised in Afghanistan, Khadr, 21, is accused of throwing a grenade that killed a US Special Forces soldier during a 2002 fire fight in Afghanistan that left another soldier blind 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.

Torture and abuse

The footage shows a 16-year-old Khadr begging for medical help for chest and back wounds he says have not healed six months after his arrest.

He also tells his interrogators about torture and abuse he says he faced at the hands of US officials. He asks repeatedly to be returned home.

- AP