The British Bar Council, Law Society, Criminal Bar Association, Bar Human Rights Committee, and Commonwealth Lawyers Association have joined in criticizing Canada for failing to act on the case of Canadian citizen Omar Khadr, imprisoned at Guantanamo now for six years since his capture in Afghanistan when he was a 15-year-old child soldier. They say he is being held “in conditions which contravene the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.”Previously, the Canadian Law Society also urged the government to act to repatriate him. Especially because of the issue of his status as a child at the time of his capture, the Canadian Association of Social Workers has written to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, asking him to act on this matter.The United Nations has launched a formal protest with the United States over its decision to try Khadr. Khadr is charged with murder for allegedly throwing a grenade that killed U.S. army Sgt. Christopher Speer during a firefight near Khost, Afghanistan, in July 2002.He is now the only remaining citizen of a Western country in detention there.He faces additional charges of attempted murder, conspiracy, spying and providing material aid to terrorism.
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