Abdurahman Khadr

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Abdurahman Khadr
Abdurahman, behind his brother Abdullah
Born: 1982
Ottawa, Canada
Detained at: Guantanamo
ID number: 990[1]
Status Released, living in Canada
Parents: Ahmed Said Khadr
Maha Elsamnah

Abdurahman Khadr (b. 1982) is the third child of the Canadian Khadr family, and was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, after being detained in Afghanistan under suspicion of connections to al-Qaida. He later trained to work as an informant for the CIA.

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.[2] In 1994, he was sent to Khalden training camp along with his brother Abdullah, where he was given the alias Osama.[2] 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.[3]

Abdurahman Khadr is listed as Abdul Khadr on the Department of Defense's official list of Guantanamo detainees. His younger brother Omar Khadr, captured separately, during a firefight, remains in Guantanamo. He and his family were profiled in the documentary Son of al Qaeda.

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[edit] Early life

Abdurahman Khadr was born in Bahrain, the son of Ahmed Said Khadr, an Egyptian immigrant to Canada.[4] His father visited Pakistan after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the early 1980s, and brought his family to Pakistan in 1985. While living in Pakistan Abdurahman Khadr occasionally attended the Khalden training camp, a facility allegedly linked with al-Qaida. Khadr argues that when he attended the camp in 1998, he was doing so merely under the order of his father. He claims to have never received anything besides the most basic combat training, and views his experience as a "waste of time."

While the family was living in a shared compound with Osama bin Laden and his wives, Abdurahman became close friends with Abdulrahman bin Laden who was close to his age, and the only other child in the group to have his own horse.[5] 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.[5]

[edit] Detention and release

In November 2001, he was captured by the Northern Alliance in Kabul and handed over to American authorities.[6] He was flown to the Guantanamo Bay detention camps on March 21 2002.[7]. The original account of Khadr's time in US custody was that after many months of detention and interrogation he was returned to Afghanistan in 2003 after no links to terrorism or al-Qaida could be found.

In March 2003, he agreed to be placed in Guantanamo Bay as an infiltrator for American intelligence, being paid $5,000 and a monthly stipend of $3000.[8]

A memo from a meeting held on October 9, 2003 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".[9] The DoD released this memo to the Washington Post as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request.

The story of Khadr's release and subsequent treatment is a murky one. The United States claims that he was returned in July, four months before the ICRC memo confirmed he was still in Guantanamo, Khadr says he arrived in November. Khadr states that he attempted to approach Canadian embassies in various nations and was rebuffed at all of them. He phoned his grandmother Fatmah Elsamnah while in Sarejavo 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.

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 that he had cooperated with the CIA..[10][2]

[edit] CBC Interview

In March, 2004, Khadr revealed in a two-part documentary broadcast by CBC that he and family members had lived in a compound with Osama bin Laden, and that his father, Ahmed Said Khadr, and some of his brothers had fought alongside al-Qaida members and even stayed with bin Laden for some time after their training.[11]

In the interview, Khadr claimed to have lived for nine months in a CIA safe house near the American Embassy in Kabul, and worked abroad as an informant. The CIA offered him a contract and asked him to go to Guantanamo Bay as a mole at the U.S. military prison. While in Cuba, Khadr worked to obtain information from his fellow inmates before spending five additional months at the Camp X-Ray prison, undergoing training as an undercover CIA operative. He later was given a bogus passport and boarded a government plane destined towards Bosnia to conduct a spy operation at mosques in Sarajevo.

His work for the CIA ended as he was dropped at the Canadian embassy in Sarajevo to gain access back to Toronto. There he lied to reporters and government officials and denied any connections to terrorist organizations. Abdurahman later acknowledged that he is "the black sheep" of his family for his disavowal of support for al-Qaida, and says he just wants to be a peaceful Muslim.

In the interview, Khadr declared that 'We are an al-Qaida family'. He says he resents his father for dragging the family into a life associated with terrorism. Rumours emerged that Abdurahman's older brother, Abdullah Khadr, had been responsible for a January suicide bomb attack in Kabul that killed Canadian soldier Cpl. Jamie Murphy. Identified by members of the Taliban, Abdullah Khadr was found alive and hiding in Pakistan and was later cleared of any involvement.

Abdurahman Khadr's mother and sister, who during the 2004 CBC interview were unaware of Khadr's detailed CIA role, told the interviewer that they are proud of their family's connection to al-Qaida.

[edit] Passport issue

In July 2004, Khadr was denied a Canadian passport by Governor General 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 [12]. 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 [13]. On June 8, 2006, the Federal Court 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 [14].

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 [15].

[edit] Various claims

Abdurahman lying on a bed in Peshawar, with brothers Abdulkareem (lying in front) and Omar (foreground).
Abdurahman lying on a bed in Peshawar, with brothers Abdulkareem (lying in front) and Omar (foreground).
  • 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.[16]
  • According to Abdurahman, he had "a lot" of Canadian friends who attended Khalden training camp[16]
  • When the CIA asked him for the names of Canadians who had attended Khalden, he listed Amer el-Maati, Ahmad el-Maati, a Vancouver man he identified only as "Amer" who he says was killed in a 1998 American missile strike, and another Canadian he knew only as "Idriss" who was arrested for conspiring to attack an embassy in Azerbaijan.[16]
  • He has said that his family ran a guesthouse for Canadians wanting to train with al-Qaeda.[16]

[edit] Movie deal

On January 9, 2005 Variety reported that there were plans to make a movie based on Mr Khadr's life.[17] 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.[18]

[edit] Interview with Ana Maria Gomes

Ana Maria Gomes, a Portuguese member of the European Union Parliament, came to Canada to interview Khadr. Gomes is investigating the flights of the CIA's clandestine air-fleet. She came to ask Khadr about his flight from Guantanamo to Bosnia, aboard one of the CIA's Gulfsteam executive jets.[19] According to an article in the Globe and Mail Khadr told Gomes that he was told the plane was the CIA director's own. Gomes was particularly interested in Khadr's flight because it was one of the 90 that landed in Portugal.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
  2. ^ a b c Michelle Shephard, "Guantanamo's Child", 2008.
  3. ^ Nasiri, OmarInside the Jihad: My Life with al Qaeda, a Spy's story]], 2006
  4. ^ CBC: The Khadrs, CBC, March 4, 2004
  5. ^ a b Wright, Lawrence, "The Looming Tower", 2006
  6. ^ Krauss, Clifford. New York Times, Canadian Teenager Held by U.S. in Afghanistan in Killing of American Medic, September 14 2002
  7. ^ Toronto Star, "Toronto's link to terrorism grows", April 2003
  8. ^ New York Times, Guantánamo Memories, From Outside the Wire, June 21, 2004
  9. ^ ICRC Meeting with MG Miller on 09 Oct 2003 (.pdf), Department of Defense, October 9, 2003
  10. ^ Abdurahman Khadr: mischief or terror?, CBC, December 4, 2003
  11. ^ "Son of Al Qaeda" PBS documentary on Abdurahman Khadr
  12. ^ Order Amending the Canadian Passport Order
  13. ^ CTV.ca | Khadr lawyer says passport denial violates rights
  14. ^ Khadr v. Attorney General of Canada
  15. ^ Ottawa again denies Khadr's passport application, CTV, 30 August 2006
  16. ^ a b c d Bell, Stewart. National Post, "'A lot' of Canadians in al-Qaeda", August 1, 2004
  17. ^ Osama insider in pic pact, Variety, January 9, 2005
  18. ^ 'Rwanda' man plots CIA stint, Variety, June 5, 2005
  19. ^ EU official debriefs Khadr about CIA flight: MP probing agency's rendition trips, including ex-detainee's travel in Europe, Globe and Mail, December 4, 2006
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Alleged Canadian Militants in the War on Terrorism
Khadr family
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Montreal Millennium Plot
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Canadians in the Afghan Insurgency
Canadians in the Iraqi Insurgency
Canadians in Chechnya
Detained on Security Certificates
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