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Guantanamo's youngest leaves

September 29, 2012

The youngest prisoner and last Western inmate at the Guantanamo Bay military base has been returned to his native Canada. Omar Khadr will finish serving his prison sentence in Ontario.

https://p.dw.com/p/16HYC
In this photo of a sketch by courtroom artist Janet Hamlin, Canadian defendant Omar Khadr attends a hearing in the courthouse for the U.S. military war crimes commission on Guantanamo Bay in April 2010. The youngest Guantanamo prisoner, Khadr, who was 15 years old when captured, was returned to Canada on Saturday to complete his sentence. (REUTERS/Janet Hamlin/Pool)
Image: Reuters

Khadr, who was 15 years old when he was caught in Afghanistan in 2002, was flown from the US naval base to a military base in Ontario. He was then transferred to the Millhaven maximum-security prison, where he will finish serving his eight-year sentence.

Controversial case

A US war crimes tribunal in 2010 sentenced Khadr, now 26, to eight years in prison in a plea deal that included him admitting to the murder of Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer. He also admitted to conspiring with al Qaeda to commit terrorist acts and making roadside bombs to target U.S. troops in Afghanistan, as well as spying and providing material support for terrorism.

Under the terms of the plea deal, Khadr has been eligible to return to Canada since last October.

The case has proven controversial internationally owing to Khadr's age at the time of his capture and the nature of his detention.

Khadr was born in Canada but spent most of his childhood in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

His now-deceased father, Ahmed Khadr, was an alleged al Qaeda financier, though Omar disputed the allegation.

tm/msh (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)