GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba - Canadian detainee Omar Khadr is apparently in good health, the U.S. military said Wednesday, contradicting a defence lawyer's claim that prisoner was too sick to attend a hearing on war crimes charges.
A doctor examined Khadr, 21, late Tuesday and found no evidence of the dizziness reported by the military lawyer for the alleged former child soldier, said Navy Cmdr. Pauline Storum, a spokeswoman for the U.S.-run Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba.
"The physician conducted an examination and found the detainee to be in good health, with no complaints,'' Storum said.
Hours before the examination, Khadr's lawyer, Navy Lt.-Cmdr. William Kuebler, said the prisoner had been suffering dizziness, possibly caused by shrapnel in his eyes, for several days and couldn't attend a pretrial hearing on Wednesday.
Khadr is now scheduled to appear before a judge on Thursday for a hearing to discuss evidence in his case.
Khadr faces up to life in prison on charges that include murder for allegedly throwing a grenade that killed a U.S. special forces soldier, Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer of Albuquerque, New Mexico, in Afghanistan in 2002.
Khadr was 15 years old at the time.
Last week, a U.S. military judge rejected a request to postpone the pretrial hearing after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that detainees at Guantanamo Bay have constitutional rights to challenge their detention in American civilian courts.
Lawyers for Khadr had said they wanted more time to study the high court's decision to see how it affects their client.
But Col. Patrick Parrish, the judge hearing Khadr's case, denied that request.
Kuebler has said the Supreme Court decision could nullify previous rulings by the tribunal as it prepared for Khadr's upcoming murder trial.
"At a minimum, it appears to undermine a number of the government's legal positions on the application of the Constitution to Guantanamo Bay,'' Kuebler said last week.
The high court ruling affirmed detainees' right to contest their detention in U.S. civilian courts, but lawyers for the men facing trial at Guantanamo say it will also bolster challenges of the Pentagon's system for offshore terrorism prosecutions.
Khadr's trial is expected to be among the first war crimes trials at Guantanamo. U.S. officials say they plan to prosecute about 80 prisoners and have charges pending against 19.
Parrish recently replaced Col. Peter Brownback as the judge presiding over the military tribunal hearing Khadr's case.
The U.S. military took the unusual step of stating the change of judges was "unrelated'' to any of Brownback's decisions in any of his cases.
"Any suggestion that my detailing of another military judge was driven by or prompted by any decisions or rulings made by Col. Brownback is incorrect,'' said Col. Ralph Kohlmann.
Brownback was replaced because the army decided in February not to extend the judge's active duty status beyond the June 29 date he was supposed to return to retirement, said Kohlmann, even though Brownback was willing to stay.
Kuebler called the explanation "odd to say the least,'' given that Brownback was presiding over such a high-profile terrorism case at Guantanamo Bay.
The announcement about Brownback came three weeks after he threatened to halt proceedings in the Khadr case if the prosecution failed to release the Canadian's detention records.
Brownback ordered prosecutors to supply a classified prison log to the defence, which contends Khadr was abused and coerced into making incriminating statements.
