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January 16, 2008

PRESS RELEASE (PDF Version)

Canadian Law Students Take Actions Calling on Harper, Obama to Ensure Repatriation of Omar Khadr, Closure of Guantanamo Bay


Law students across Canada created the Omar Khadr Project last fall, seeking the repatriation and fair treatment of Omar Khadr. This week, the Omar Khadr Project launches a series of actions calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President-elect Barack Obama to ensure Khadr's repatriation as a key step in the closure of the illegal Guantanamo Bay detention centre.

It is expected that one of President-elect Obama's first executive actions will be to begin shutting down Guantanamo Bay.  But, "the looming questions for Omar Khadr," explains Project member Kate Oja, "are whether the new President will act in time to stop Omar's deeply flawed 'trial', and whether Prime Minister Harper will agree to bring Omar back to Canada."

This week, the Omar Khadr Project joins with groups across Canada, the U.S. and beyond to put pressure on both Canadian and American governments to act quickly in the spirit of justice. We are launching 4 actions:

1.    Hundreds of law students from the University of Toronto, Osgoode Hall at York University, the University of Windsor, McGill University and Queen's University, as well as students working in articling positions signed a petition calling on the Canadian government to repatriate Omar Khadr and protect his human rights. We are sending this petition to Parliament, where it will be officially presented once Parliament resumes.

2.    We wrote to President-elect Obama, drawing his attention to the urgency and injustice of Omar's case.

3.    As a Christmas present, and in honour of the 60th anniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights, we sent Prime Minister Harper, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Justice copies of a picture book on basic human rights, emphasizing sections on fair trial rights and the rights of the child.

4.    On Saturday 17 January 2009, we are gathering outside the U.S. Consulate in Toronto, along with Amnesty International, the Coalition to Repatriate Omar Khadr, and other supporters.


Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen detained at age 15, remains the only national of a Western country to be held at Guantanamo.  His trial before the internationally condemned military commission system is scheduled to begin on January 26th, just 6 days after Obama's inauguration.

The Omar Khadr Project is an organization of law students and young lawyers from across the country who believe that respect for human rights is a fundamental Canadian value. In May 2008, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously found that the conditions under which Omar was being detained "constituted a clear violation of fundamental human rights protected by international law". The Court found that Canada's participation in Omar's case breached our own obligations under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Geneva Conventions.

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Contacts:

Kate Oja
416 576 3330

or Judith Rae
416 452 2200
 
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