I don't know if anyone much outside of Canada has been following the curious case of Omar Khadr but it is a real hot potato right now.
In summary, though quoting from the Wiki article
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Khadr"Born in Canada, Khadr was taken to Afghanistan by his father, who was affiliated with Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. On July 27, 2002, at age 15, Khadr was severely wounded in a firefight between U.S. soldiers and Taliban fighters in the village of Ayub Kheyl, during which Khadr is alleged to have thrown a grenade that killed American Delta Force medic Sgt. Christopher Speer.[2] After being captured and detained at Bagram, he was sent to the Guantanamo Bay detention camps in Cuba. During his detention, Khadr was interrogated by both Canadian and US intelligence officers."
While at Gitmo, he was tortured via sleep deprivation and a number of other non-invasive techniques -
He was not waterboarded - and eventually confessed to the crimes that the US military court pressed against him. In 2012 he was finally repatriated to Canada to serve the remainder of his 8 year sentence and was released in 2015 due to an appeal of his US conviction in Canadian court.
This past week it was revealed that as a result of a lawsuit filed by Khadr against the Canadian government, the government had decided to settle the case for $10.5M CAD (about $8M USD) and has issued an apology for failing to uphold his rights to fair trial and extradition under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
For those on the right, the very idea of giving an enemy combatant a payout for being detained in Gitmo and being treated according to US guidelines is abhorrent. Where is the payout for the US serviceman killed by this terrorist? Why is our government giving millions of dollars to a convicted terrorist? Why didn't he get a bullet to the head a long time ago?
On the left, the very idea that Canada allowed the US to torture and convict outside of normal laws an underage combatant who holds Canadian citizenship without so much as a complaint from his government, who by the Charter has obligations and responsibilities to their citizen. The compensation is viewed as fair due to the treatment of Mr. Khadr by the Canadian Government, as is the apology for not protecting his rights. This is actually long established law with precedents here in Canada.
For myself, I don't personally feel all that bad for Mr. Khadr and his treatment at the hands of his captors. Yes, torture is definitely wrong and that shouldn't have occurred to a Canadian citizen with the tacit approval of his own country. On the other hand, he was captured working for the enemy in Afghanistan, and regardless of his age he should be held responsible for that. To me, though, whether I like Mr. Khadr or not (I do not, I think he should rot in a humane Canadian prison until he dies of old age),
my country failed to uphold his rights as enshrined in Canadian Law. Thus, the payout. I'd be terribly happy if he got sued in Canadian court by the family of the deceased US soldier and lost every cent, to be frank but just imagine the can of worms that would open! But ultimately, we violated his rights and must be punished accordingly.
Thoughts?