Videotaped footage of interviews by Canadian officials with Omar Khadr must be released to his defence team, a Federal Court of Canada judge has ruled.
The interviews were conducted over four days in February 2003 at Guantanamo Bay.
Khadr's lawyers claim the videotapes will assist them because "unclassified summaries and open source information" indicate their client is seen crying and asking Canadian officials for help on the tape.
He also apparently tells them that he had been tortured and shows them the scars left by his injuries.
"I will refrain from commenting on what the tapes reveal. However, I am satisfied that any content that may tend to support the applicant's allegations is relevant and should be disclosed to the applicant and his counsel for the purpose of his defence to the criminal charges," Judge Richard Mosley said in his ruling released late Wednesday.
Khadr was also interviewed by Canadian officials in September 2003 and March 2004. However, Mosley said he only has evidence that Canadian officials have recordings of the February 2003 interviews.
Last month, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Khadr has a constitutional right to material related to interviews conducted by Canadian officials at Guantanamo Bay.
But the ruling allows the government to object to releasing some documents for national security reasons.
It was up to Mosely to determine what materials Ottawa must release.
Khadr was captured in 2002 following a firefight with U.S. Special Forces. He was taken to Afghanistan by his father, who had ties to al Qaeda and was killed in Pakistan in 2003. The Pentagon maintains Khadr threw a grenade during the fight, killing a U.S. soldier.
Human rights laws broken
Mosely also ruled that the U.S. military's treatment of Khadr, a Canadian citizen, violated international laws against torture.
The judge said the way the military prepared Khadr for interrogation sessions with visiting Canadian officials broke human rights laws, including the Geneva Conventions.
Khadr's treatment is described in a U.S. military document outlining "steps taken by the Guantanamo authorities to prepare the applicant for the Canadian visit" in March 2004.
Mosley, who did not reveal the technique used on Khadr, said the document should be made public because it is relevant to Khadr's allegations that he was mistreated while in U.S. custody.
Mosley also said Wednesday that Canada was not an innocent player in Khadr's mistreatment.
The federal judge said Canada "became implicated" when the Canadian interrogator met Khadr despite having knowledge of the efforts to prime the prisoner.
Dennis Edney, one of Khadr's lawyers, said the court's decision was a "resounding stain" on the federal government.
"This is a credible decision, it's the first court to have seen evidence to suggest that a detainee such as Omar Khadr was tortured by the Americans and it also for the first time directly implicates Canada in torture as well,'' he said in an interview from Vancouver.
"I'm happy when I see that governments are being made to be accountable for their abuses.''
Edney said once he receives the documents he will then decide if they'll be released to the media.
"This decision clearly indicates that Canada was well aware of the treatment Omar Khadr received and denied that by saying that they had always been told by the Americans that he would be treated well. They knew the exact opposite,'' Edney said.
Mosley's ruling also states that "U.S. authorities were interested in having Canada consider whether Khadr could be prosecuted here (in Canada) and provided details about the evidence against him to Canadian officials for that purpose."
Nathan Whitling, a lawyer for Khadr, told The Globe and Mail that the ruling shows that U.S. authorities were trying to return Khadr to Canada to be tried but Canada "refused to allow his return to his country of citizenship."
With files from The Canadian Press
