Abdurahman Khadr
Encyclopedia
Abdurahman Khadr is the third child of the Egypt
ian Canadian
Khadr family
, and was held in extrajudicial detention
in the United States
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
s, in Cuba
, after being detained in Afghanistan
under suspicion of connections to Al-Qaeda
. He later claimed to have been an informant
for the CIA, which the agency declined to comment on when asked for confirmation by Frontline.
His younger brother Omar Khadr
, captured separately, during a firefight, remains in Guantanamo.
Abdurahman Khadr was born in Manama
, Bahrain
, the son of Ahmed Khadr, an Egyptian immigrant to Canada. His father visited Pakistan
after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
in the early 1980s, and brought his family to Pakistan in 1985.
In his youth, Khadr was known as the "problem child" in the family, frequently running away and getting in trouble, refusing to follow any rules, drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes. In 1994, he was sent to Khalden training camp
along with his brother Abdullah
, where he was given the alias Osama. The two brothers fought constantly at the camp, one day their argument became so heated that Abdullah pointed his AK-47
and Abdurahman his PPK handgun, at each other screaming, before a trainer stepped between them. In 1997, a dispute between the brothers was mediated by Abu Laith al-Libi
, who earned their confidence and respect telling them about Dubai
and Ferrari
s, later described as "really cool" by Abdurahman.
While the family was living in Nazim Jihad
with Osama bin Laden
's family in 1998, Abdurahman became close friends with Abdulrahman bin Laden who was close to his age, and the only child in the group to have his own horse, although Abdurahman successfully petitioned his own father to buy him a horse. Once, when the two horses fought, bin Laden pointed a gun at Khadr, yelling at him to stop the fight before his prized Arabian horse
was killed. When the family was leaving the compound, Abdurahman and Abdullah fought over seating in the car, and the fight ended with the older Khadr chasing his brother around the car with an AK-47
screaming. Their mother ended up asking bin Laden if he could please take care of the troublesome Abdurahman since "she could not control him", and he begrudgingly agreed to look after the youth until their father returned. However, the next day bin Laden informed Abdurahman that it would not work, and he asked Saif al-Adel
to take the 16-year old to the bus station so he could catch up with his family en route back to Peshawar.
The following year, Abdurahman says he was sent to Jihad Wel al-Farouq for seven days. On August 20, 1998, Al Farouq training camp
was bombed by American cruise missile
s; and Amr Hamed
was killed; although Abdurahman identified a distinctive birthmark
on his toe; and for the first time, felt hatred for Americans.
In November 2001, Khadr was captured by the Northern Alliance
in Kabul
, a city he was wandering aimlessly without direction, although one elderly man later claimed that he had installed an anti-aircraft gun on the roof of a house. He was handed over to American authorities. He later claimed to have been captured several other times, and released each time.
At this point, stories begin to diverge. Khadr claims he lived for nine months in a CIA safe house
near the American Embassy in Kabul, and worked abroad as an informant. But other sources say he was taken to Guantanamo Bay on March 21, 2002.
The CIA reportedly offered him a contract in March 2003 and asked him to work as an infiltrator for American intelligence in Guantanamo, being paid $5,000 and a monthly stipend of $3000. While in Cuba, Khadr worked to obtain information from his fellow inmates before spending five additional months at the Camp X-Ray
prison, where he claims to have been given training as an undercover CIA operative.
The Department of Defense
published height and weight records for all but ten of the captives held in Guantanamo. Khadr is one of the ten men whose height and weight records were withheld. Khadr was listed as "Abdul Khadr" on the Department of Defense
's official list of Guantanamo detainees. The Department of Defense has not offered an explanation for why no records for those ten men were published.
Although the United States later said that Khadr had been removed from the camp in July 2003, an October 9 memo summarizing a meeting between General Geoffrey Miller
and his staff and Vincent Cassard of the ICRC
, acknowledged that camp authorities were not permitting the ICRC to have access to Khadr, and three other detainees, due to "military necessity".
He says he was later given a bogus passport
and boarded a Gulfstream
jet assigned to CIA Director George Tenet
and, after a stop-over in Portugal, landed in Bosnia where he was asked to conduct a spy operation at mosque
s in Sarajevo. Khadr states that he attempted to approach Canadian embassies in various nations and was rebuffed at all of them. He phoned his grandmother Fatmah el-Samnah while in Sarajevo
and asked her to go to the Canadian media and tell them that he had been stranded and refused entry back into Canada. He was finally granted admittance to the Canadian embassy in Bosnia
and was flown back to Canada on November 30, 2003.
On December 4, 2003, Khadr held a press conference with lawyer Rocco Galati
and gave spurious answers to questions about his role in the War on Terror, not mentioning any alleged cooperation with the CIA. The following month, he denied reports by the Toronto Star
that he had been released in exchange for giving the Americans information on the location of his father, who was killed in a Predator drone airstrike in Waziristan
two weeks before Abdurahman's release.
, which became the focus of a documentary entitled "Son of al Qaeda
", after largely passing a polygraph
test, where he claimed that he grew up in "an al-Qaeda family", and that he resented his father for associating with militants.
He has given a number of conflicting accounts of his life, many of which contradict each other. For example he has claimed that he was as young as 9 when he began attending Afghan training camp
s, and that he remained in them until as late as 2003, years after he'd not only been kicked out of the camps, but was imprisoned by the United States. He has repeatedly made comments suggesting that everything up until his most recent story was a lie.
Adrienne Clarkson
, on the explicit advice of Foreign Affairs Minister
Bill Graham, by invoking the royal prerogative
. Graham claimed the decision was "in the interest of the national security of Canada and the protection of Canadian troops in Afghanistan." National security was not listed as a ground of refusal in the Canadian Passport Order at the time, thus requiring the use of royal prerogative. It was, however, added as a ground shortly thereafter on September 22, 2004. Under the terms of the amendment, the Minister was empowered to revoke or refuse to renew or issue a passport on national security grounds.
Khadr sought judicial review
of the Minister's decision. On June 8, 2006, the Federal Court of Canada
ruled that the Minister did not have the power to deny Khadr's passport in the absence of specific authority set out in the Canadian Passport Order, but stated in obiter dicta that if the Order were to be amended (as it had been after the fact), Khadr would likely not be able to challenge the revocation.
On August 30, 2006, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, then Peter MacKay
, with the support of Prime Minister Stephen Harper
, again denied Khadr's application, this time on the basis of the now-amended Canadian Passport Order.
reported that there were plans to make a movie
based on Khadr's life. Variety reported the movie deal might be worth "mid to high six figures" to Khadr. On June 5, 2005 Variety reported that Kier Pearson, the screenwriter for Hotel Rwanda
would be working on a script for Paramount Pictures
.
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
Khadr family
Khadr family
The Khadr family is a Canadian family noted for their ties to Osama bin Laden and alleged connections to al Qaeda. The family maintains that they have not broken any Canadian laws, and they have never been charged with any crimes by Canadian authorities.The Khadr family comprises:*The father,...
, and was held in extrajudicial detention
Extrajudicial detention
Arbitrary or extrajudicial detention is the detention of individuals by a state, without ever laying formal charges against them.Although it has a long history of legitimate use in wartime , detention without charge, sometimes in secret, has been one of the hallmarks of totalitarian states...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq...
s, in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, after being detained in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
under suspicion of connections to Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
. He later claimed to have been an informant
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
for the CIA, which the agency declined to comment on when asked for confirmation by Frontline.
His younger brother Omar Khadr
Omar Khadr
Omar Ahmed Khadr is a Canadian child soldier and one of the juveniles held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. He was convicted of five charges under the United States Military Commissions Act of 2009 including murder in violation of the law of war and providing material support for terrorism,...
, captured separately, during a firefight, remains in Guantanamo.
Early life
Manama
Manama is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 155,000 people.Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is home to a very diverse population...
, Bahrain
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
, the son of Ahmed Khadr, an Egyptian immigrant to Canada. His father visited Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
Soviet war in Afghanistan
The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist-Leninist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the Afghan Mujahideen and foreign "Arab–Afghan" volunteers...
in the early 1980s, and brought his family to Pakistan in 1985.
In his youth, Khadr was known as the "problem child" in the family, frequently running away and getting in trouble, refusing to follow any rules, drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes. In 1994, he was sent to Khalden training camp
Khalden training camp
The Khalden training camp was a military training camp in Afghanistan. According to the documentary Son of al Qaeda there were hundreds of military training camps in Afghanistan which were tied to al Qaeda...
along with his brother Abdullah
Abdullah Khadr
Abdullah Ahmed Khadr is the oldest son of Ahmed Khadr and brother of Omar Khadr who has been charged with war crimes before the Guantanamo military commission....
, where he was given the alias Osama. The two brothers fought constantly at the camp, one day their argument became so heated that Abdullah pointed his AK-47
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
and Abdurahman his PPK handgun, at each other screaming, before a trainer stepped between them. In 1997, a dispute between the brothers was mediated by Abu Laith al-Libi
Abu Laith al-Libi
Abu Laith al-Libi was a senior leader of the al-Qaeda movement in Afghanistan who appeared in several al-Qaeda videos. He was believed to have been active in the tribal regions of Waziristan. He also served as an al Qaeda spokesman...
, who earned their confidence and respect telling them about Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
and Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...
s, later described as "really cool" by Abdurahman.
While the family was living in Nazim Jihad
Nazim Jihad
Najim Jihad is the name given to a housing compound outside Jalalabad, Afghanistan, which is the former home of Osama bin Laden and approximately 250 followers....
with Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
's family in 1998, Abdurahman became close friends with Abdulrahman bin Laden who was close to his age, and the only child in the group to have his own horse, although Abdurahman successfully petitioned his own father to buy him a horse. Once, when the two horses fought, bin Laden pointed a gun at Khadr, yelling at him to stop the fight before his prized Arabian horse
Arabian horse
The Arabian or Arab horse is a breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world. It is also one of the oldest breeds, with archaeological evidence of horses...
was killed. When the family was leaving the compound, Abdurahman and Abdullah fought over seating in the car, and the fight ended with the older Khadr chasing his brother around the car with an AK-47
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
screaming. Their mother ended up asking bin Laden if he could please take care of the troublesome Abdurahman since "she could not control him", and he begrudgingly agreed to look after the youth until their father returned. However, the next day bin Laden informed Abdurahman that it would not work, and he asked Saif al-Adel
Saif al-Adel
Saif al-Adel is an Egyptian explosives expert and a high-ranking member of al-Qaeda.Adel is under indictment for his part in the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Africa...
to take the 16-year old to the bus station so he could catch up with his family en route back to Peshawar.
The following year, Abdurahman says he was sent to Jihad Wel al-Farouq for seven days. On August 20, 1998, Al Farouq training camp
Al Farouq training camp
The Al Farouq training camp, also known as "the airport camp", was an alleged Al-Qaeda training camp near Kandahar, Afghanistan. Camp attendees received small-arms training, map-reading, orientation, explosives training, and other training....
was bombed by American cruise missile
Cruise missile
A cruise missile is a guided missile that carries an explosive payload and is propelled, usually by a jet engine, towards a land-based or sea-based target. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhead over long distances with high accuracy...
s; and Amr Hamed
Amr Hamed
Amr Mohamed Hamed was a Canadian who died in the American bombing of an Afghan training camp on August 20, 1998, as retaliation for the African embassy bombings.-Life in Egypt:...
was killed; although Abdurahman identified a distinctive birthmark
Birthmark
A birthmark is a benign irregularity on the skin which is present at birth or appears shortly after birth, usually in the first month. They can occur anywhere on the skin. Birthmarks are caused by overgrowth of blood vessels, melanocytes, smooth muscle, fat, fibroblasts, or...
on his toe; and for the first time, felt hatred for Americans.
Arrest and release
Northern Alliance
The Afghan Northern Alliance is a military-political umbrella organization created by the Islamic State of Afghanistan in 1996.Northern Alliance may also refer to:*Northern Alliance , a Canadian white supremacist group...
in Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
, a city he was wandering aimlessly without direction, although one elderly man later claimed that he had installed an anti-aircraft gun on the roof of a house. He was handed over to American authorities. He later claimed to have been captured several other times, and released each time.
At this point, stories begin to diverge. Khadr claims he lived for nine months in a CIA safe house
Safe house
In the jargon of law enforcement and intelligence agencies, a safe house is a secure location, suitable for hiding witnesses, agents or other persons perceived as being in danger...
near the American Embassy in Kabul, and worked abroad as an informant. But other sources say he was taken to Guantanamo Bay on March 21, 2002.
The CIA reportedly offered him a contract in March 2003 and asked him to work as an infiltrator for American intelligence in Guantanamo, being paid $5,000 and a monthly stipend of $3000. While in Cuba, Khadr worked to obtain information from his fellow inmates before spending five additional months at the Camp X-Ray
Camp X-Ray
Camp X-Ray was a temporary detention facility at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp of Joint Task Force Guantanamo on the U.S. Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.The first twenty detainees arrived at Guantanamo on January 11, 2002....
prison, where he claims to have been given training as an undercover CIA operative.
The Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
published height and weight records for all but ten of the captives held in Guantanamo. Khadr is one of the ten men whose height and weight records were withheld. Khadr was listed as "Abdul Khadr" on the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
's official list of Guantanamo detainees. The Department of Defense has not offered an explanation for why no records for those ten men were published.
Although the United States later said that Khadr had been removed from the camp in July 2003, an October 9 memo summarizing a meeting between General Geoffrey Miller
Geoffrey Miller (general)
Geoffrey D. Miller is a retired United States Army Major General who commanded the US detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Iraq. Detention facilities in Iraq under his command included Abu Ghraib prison, Camp Cropper and Camp Bucca. He is also famous for training soldiers in "improved...
and his staff and Vincent Cassard of the ICRC
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...
, acknowledged that camp authorities were not permitting the ICRC to have access to Khadr, and three other detainees, due to "military necessity".
He says he was later given a bogus passport
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
and boarded a Gulfstream
Gulfstream Aerospace
Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation is a producer of several models of jet aircraft. Gulfstream has been a unit of General Dynamics since 1999.The company has produced more than 1,500 aircraft for corporate, government, private, and military customers around the world...
jet assigned to CIA Director George Tenet
George Tenet
George John Tenet was the Director of Central Intelligence for the United States Central Intelligence Agency, and is Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University....
and, after a stop-over in Portugal, landed in Bosnia where he was asked to conduct a spy operation at mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
s in Sarajevo. Khadr states that he attempted to approach Canadian embassies in various nations and was rebuffed at all of them. He phoned his grandmother Fatmah el-Samnah while in Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
and asked her to go to the Canadian media and tell them that he had been stranded and refused entry back into Canada. He was finally granted admittance to the Canadian embassy in Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
and was flown back to Canada on November 30, 2003.
On December 4, 2003, Khadr held a press conference with lawyer Rocco Galati
Rocco Galati
Rocco Galati is a Canadian lawyer who specializes in terrorism cases.In 2001, he defended Delmart Vreeland at trial.He was Abdurahman Khadr's first lawyer...
and gave spurious answers to questions about his role in the War on Terror, not mentioning any alleged cooperation with the CIA. The following month, he denied reports by the Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
that he had been released in exchange for giving the Americans information on the location of his father, who was killed in a Predator drone airstrike in Waziristan
Waziristan
Waziristan is a mountainous region near the Northwest of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering some 11,585 km² . The area is entirely populated by ethnic Pashtuns . The language spoken in the valley is Pashto/Pakhto...
two weeks before Abdurahman's release.
Interviews
In March, 2004, Khadr gave a series of three interviews to PBSPublic Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
, which became the focus of a documentary entitled "Son of al Qaeda
Son of al Qaeda
Son of al Qaeda is a documentary about Abdurahman Khadr, a young Canadian whose father was a senior associate of Osama bin Laden, produced by Terence McKenna, an independent Canadian producer....
", after largely passing a polygraph
Polygraph
A polygraph measures and records several physiological indices such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while the subject is asked and answers a series of questions...
test, where he claimed that he grew up in "an al-Qaeda family", and that he resented his father for associating with militants.
He has given a number of conflicting accounts of his life, many of which contradict each other. For example he has claimed that he was as young as 9 when he began attending Afghan training camp
Afghan training camp
An Afghan training camp is a camp or facility used for militant training located in pre-2002 Afghanistan. At the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Indian intelligence officials estimated that there were over 120 training camps operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan, run by a variety of...
s, and that he remained in them until as late as 2003, years after he'd not only been kicked out of the camps, but was imprisoned by the United States. He has repeatedly made comments suggesting that everything up until his most recent story was a lie.
Passport issue
In July 2004, Khadr was denied a Canadian passport by Governor GeneralGovernor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
Adrienne Clarkson
Adrienne Clarkson
Adrienne Louise Clarkson is a Canadian journalist and stateswoman who served as Governor General of Canada, the 26th since Canadian Confederation....
, on the explicit advice of Foreign Affairs Minister
Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada)
The Minister of Foreign Affairs is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the federal government's international relations section of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada....
Bill Graham, by invoking the royal prerogative
Royal Prerogative
The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege, and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy as belonging to the sovereign alone. It is the means by which some of the executive powers of government, possessed by and...
. Graham claimed the decision was "in the interest of the national security of Canada and the protection of Canadian troops in Afghanistan." National security was not listed as a ground of refusal in the Canadian Passport Order at the time, thus requiring the use of royal prerogative. It was, however, added as a ground shortly thereafter on September 22, 2004. Under the terms of the amendment, the Minister was empowered to revoke or refuse to renew or issue a passport on national security grounds.
Khadr sought judicial review
Judicial review
Judicial review is the doctrine under which legislative and executive actions are subject to review by the judiciary. Specific courts with judicial review power must annul the acts of the state when it finds them incompatible with a higher authority...
of the Minister's decision. On June 8, 2006, the Federal Court of Canada
Federal Court of Canada
The Federal Court of Canada was a national court of Canada that heard some types of disputes arising under the central government's legislative jurisdiction...
ruled that the Minister did not have the power to deny Khadr's passport in the absence of specific authority set out in the Canadian Passport Order, but stated in obiter dicta that if the Order were to be amended (as it had been after the fact), Khadr would likely not be able to challenge the revocation.
On August 30, 2006, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, then Peter MacKay
Peter MacKay
Peter Gordon MacKay, PC, QC, MP is a lawyer and politician from Nova Scotia, Canada. He is the Member of Parliament for Central Nova and currently serves as Minister of National Defence in the Cabinet of Canada....
, with the support of Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
, again denied Khadr's application, this time on the basis of the now-amended Canadian Passport Order.
Various claims
- Although Mahmoud Jaballah has said that he never met Abdurahman's father while in Peshawar, Abdurahman has said that he had seen Jaballah around the city.
- When the CIA asked him for the names of Canadians who had attended Khalden, he listed Amer el-MaatiAmer el-MaatiBorn in Kuwait, Amro Badr Abou el-Maati is a Canadian citizen who the United States has alleged is a member of Al-Qaeda who attended flight school and discussed hijacking a Canadian plane to fly into American buildings...
, Ahmad el-Maati, Amr HamedAmr HamedAmr Mohamed Hamed was a Canadian who died in the American bombing of an Afghan training camp on August 20, 1998, as retaliation for the African embassy bombings.-Life in Egypt:...
and another Canadian he knew only as IdrissIdriss (Canadian)Factoring frequently into the testimony of former CIA spy Abdurahman Khadr, is the unknown Canadian figure identified only as Idriss.When asked to name Canadians who had attended Khalden training camp with him, Khadr listed off a series of known names, as well as Idriss...
who was arrested for conspiring to attack an embassy in AzerbaijanAzerbaijanAzerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
. He later claimed that Amer el-Maati had given his Canadian passport to Idriss. - He has said that his family ran a guesthouse for Canadians wanting to train with al-Qaeda.
Movie deal
On January 9, 2005 VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
reported that there were plans to make a movie
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
based on Khadr's life. Variety reported the movie deal might be worth "mid to high six figures" to Khadr. On June 5, 2005 Variety reported that Kier Pearson, the screenwriter for Hotel Rwanda
Hotel Rwanda
Hotel Rwanda is a 2004 American drama film directed by Terry George. It was adapted from a screenplay written by both George and Keir Pearson. Based on real life events which took place in Rwanda during the spring of 1994, the film stars Don Cheadle as hotelier Paul Rusesabagina, who attempts to...
would be working on a script for Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
.
External links
- Khadr thankful to be back in Canada, CBCCanadian Broadcasting CorporationThe Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
, December 1, 2003 - Khadr v. Attorney General of Canada, Federal Court of CanadaFederal Court of CanadaThe Federal Court of Canada was a national court of Canada that heard some types of disputes arising under the central government's legislative jurisdiction...
, June 8, 2006