Ottawa - A Canadian appellate court released former Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr on bail Thursday, rejecting the government's attempt to keep him in prison while he fights a US conviction for murdering an American soldier.
"You are free to go," Alberta Court of Appeal Justice Myra Bielby was quoted by Canadian media as saying to Khadr, who has spent the last 13 years behind bars, most of it at the US prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Khadr smiled as the court reportedly erupted in screams after the judge issued her decision.
Justice Bielby rejected the Crown's arguments that releasing Khadr now would cause irreparable harm to Canada's diplomatic ties and jeopardized the pending transfers of an estimated 300 other Canadian prisoners from foreign jails.
"It's going to be a major adjustment for him, but I'm sure he's up for it," one of his defence lawyers Nathan Whitling said outside the courthouse.
Toronto-born Khadr was 15 years old when he was captured on an Afghan battlefield in 2002 and sent to the US prison in Cuba.
In 2010, he was sentenced to eight years following a US military hearing in which he agreed to plead guilty to murdering a US soldier in violation of the laws of war, attempted murder, conspiracy, providing material support for terrorism and spying.
As part of the agreement, he was sent home to Canada in 2012 to serve the remainder of his sentence.
The Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta granted the now 28-year-old Khadr bail last month pending the outcome of an appeal of his war crimes conviction before a US special military court.
But that was delayed while the Crown sought an emergency stay of bail.
AFP
