MONTREAL: The decision of a Canadian detainee at Guantanamo Bay to fire his US lawyers has cast doubt on whether his high-profile war crimes trial can proceed as scheduled next month.
Omar Khadr was to begin five days of pre-trial hearings on Monday, with lawyers preparing to argue over what evidence could be used during his trial beginning August 10.
But the 23-year-old`s decision this week to fire his US legal team has thrown the schedule into disarray, and his Monday court appearance is now expected to be a truncated affair focusing on who will represent him in court.
"Because of recent developments in the Khadr case, the session may last one day," said Defense Press Operations spokeswoman Tanya Bradsher.
Journalists traveling to the facility to cover the proceedings have been told they will be leaving the base on Wednesday.
Khadr was detained in Afghanistan in 2002, aged just 15, and is accused of having thrown a grenade that killed a US Special Forces medic during a firefight.
But his decision this week to fire his American lawyers has left him facing a war crimes trial without legal representation and created uncertainty about how the process will move forward.
Under the rules of the military tribunals at Guantanamo, Khadr`s Canadian lawyers cannot represent him without US attorneys. That means Khadr must either hire new American defense counsel, or opt to represent himself.
Khadr`s lawyers had expected to spend the week arguing that some of the evidence prosecutors want to use against the Canadian is inadmissible because it was obtained under duress.
But now the judge overseeing the case, Army Colonel Patrick Parrish, will use the session to determine how to proceed after Khadr`s decision to fire his legal team for the third time since he was charged at Guantanamo.
"Many things can happen. We`re not quite sure yet because it`s on uncharted waters at this time," Khadr`s Canadian lawyer Dennis Edney told CanWest News Service on Thursday.
Also uncertain is how the Canadian government will react.
Khadr is now the only Western citizen still held at Guantanamo. Other detainees from countries including Britain, France and Australia have been repatriated, but Ottawa has steadfastly refused to seek the return of Khadr, who was born in Toronto in 1986.
On July 5, Canada`s federal court gave the government seven days to remedy what it said was a breach of Khadr`s constitutional rights, adding that the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper had so far failed to do enough to rectify the violation.
Harper`s government has refused to call on Washington to return Khadr, but has asked that information gathered by Canadian agents during meetings with him at Guantanamo not be used in his trial.
Khadr, whose father was a close friend of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, was seriously wounded in the battle that preceded his capture in July 2002, losing sight in one eye.
He has been held at Guantanamo for eight years, and faces life in prison if convicted of the charges against him.
His case has attracted concern from UNICEF and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who have argued he should be treated as a child soldier because he was under 16 at the time of his capture.
BDST:0916 HRS , July 11, 2010
