- "...Khadr was dropped into Afghanistan by U.S. authorities
with no money or identification and was told that Canada doesn't want him
back... the Canadian embassies in both Pakistan and Turkey kicked him out
when he told them who he was."
-
- (CP) -- Canadian consular doors are being slammed in
the face of a Canadian terrorist suspect quietly released by U.S. authorities
from their jail at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a lawyer for his family says.
-
- Abdul Rahman Khadr, 21, whose father and brother were
allegedly members of Al Qaeda, was set free from the high-security prison
a few weeks ago, the Department of Foreign Affairs said today.
-
- Spokesman Reynald Doiron said Khadr chose not to return
to Canada upon his release and refuted reports that Khadr was being denied
a Canadian passport from embassy officials.
-
- The family's lawyer in Toronto says Khadr was dropped
into Afghanistan by U.S. authorities with no money or identification and
was told that Canada doesn't want him back.
-
- Through an Internet messenger service and a hasty phone
call, Khadr told his grandparents last week that the Canadian embassies
in both Pakistan and Turkey kicked him out when he told them who he was.
-
- However, Doiron said Khadr hasn't yet asked for consular
support.
-
- "We have no record of Mr. Khadr approaching a Canadian
mission with a request for assistance," said Doiron.
-
- Lawyer Rocco Galati, who is working with Khadr's family
in Toronto, snorted derisively when told that Foreign Affairs had no record
of Khadr asking for help.
-
- "That's bullshit. It's very convenient. They had
no information on Arar either," Galati said, referring to the case
of Maher Arar, an Ottawa man deported to Syria after passing through the
United States and tortured during a year in prison.
-
- "Consular officials visited him in Cuba. You're
telling me you're not going to keep tabs on a Canadian and be posted when
he's released so you can bring him home?"
-
- Ahmed Said Khadr, Abdul's father, and his oldest brother
Abdullah were allegedly members of Al Qaeda. They are both believed to
have died in a gun battle in Pakistan.
-
- Ahmed's wife and daughter were denied Canadian passports
in order to leave Pakistan six months ago, Galati said, so the officials
in Islamabad must have known who Khadr was.
-
- They likely do.
-
- Doiron said that the Khadr name is so well known to consular
officials that the minute a member of the family arrives on a consular
doorstep, officials in Ottawa know about it.
-
- That's why, Doiron said, if there's no record that Abdul
has visited a consular office, it's likely he hasn't yet asked for a passport.
-
- Khadr and his youngest brother, Omar, 17, formerly of
Toronto, were among hundreds of suspects held at the U.S. naval base at
Guantanamo Bay. They were captured separately during the war in Afghanistan.
-
- The teenaged Omar, who was captured after a firefight
in which an American soldier was mortally wounded, is believed to still
be at the jail in Cuba.
-
- Galati said neither he nor the family knows exactly where
Abdul Rahman Khadr is now and they are very worried.
-
- "We're fearful for his safety," said Galati.
"We don't exactly where he is, we know the country but we don't know
where."
-
- Galati said the family is incensed with Ottawa.
-
- "Where do they get off saying to a Canadian citizen
you don't have a right to come into your own country? They are acting like
a bunch of hooligans."
-
- News of Khadr's release came on the heels of the Pentagon
announcing Monday the release of 20 more prisoners from Guantanamo.
-
- They were returned Friday to their homelands.
-
- The U.S. military, meanwhile, brought some 20 new suspects
to the facility from an undisclosed location, officials said. The Sunday
transfer means the prison on the U.S. naval base still holds some 660 people
suspected of taking part in guerrilla activity - many believed to be Al
Qaeda and Taliban figures captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan two years
ago at the start of the U.S. war on terrorism.
-
- So far 88 people have been transferred out of Guantanamo
- 84 to be released in their countries and four transferred into Saudi
Arabian prisons for continued detention.
-
- Since the Guantanamo prison opened in January 2002, prisoners
from 42 countries, including Canada, have been taken there for interrogation
and detention. U.S. officials said their aim was to get intelligence to
help avoid future attacks and keep dangerous people out of circulation.
-
- Copyright 1996-2003. Toronto Star Newspapers Limited.
All rights reserved.
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