VOA News 10 August 2010
The youngest detainee at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba goes on trial Tuesday, with the prosecution already having won a major ruling ahead of the proceedings.
Canadian citizen Omar Khadr was just 15 years old when he was captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan in 2002 after a firefight at a suspected al-Qaida hideout. He is charged with lobbing a grenade that killed U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Christopher Speer.
Khadr's attorneys claim U.S. interrogators coerced a confession from their client through torture and fear, including a suggestion he would be subjected to gang rape.
But a U.S. military judge ruled Monday that Khadr's confession may be used during his trial.
The young Canadian, now 23, faces a maximum life sentence if convicted of charges including murder, conspiracy and spying.
He has turned down an offer to spend the next 30 years in prison – five of them in Guantanamo, with the remaining 25 years in Canada.
Khadr's trail is the first under U.S. President Barack Obama, who failed to meet a self-imposed deadline to close the controversial detention center by January of this year.
Khadr's military lawyer, Jon Jackson, told the French news agency President Obama's commission will be remembered as the trial of a child soldier.
In a separate hearing Monday, another judge ordered that a plea agreement capping the sentence of an Osama bin Laden aide be sealed, shrouding in secrecy the first Guantanamo conviction under Mr. Obama.
The judge said the deal limiting how much more time Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi spends in confinement will not be revealed until after his release.
Al-Qosi, a Sudanese detainee, pleaded guilty last month to one count each of conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism.
He was accused of acting as accountant, paymaster, supply chief and cook for al-Qaida during the 1990s. He allegedly worked later as a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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