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Khadr jury selection continues

11 August 2010 23:08 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Jury selection continues Wednesday in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in the U.S. military commission trial of Canadian Omar Khadr, APA reports quoting â€œCBC Newsâ€.
The Toronto-born man, now 23, was captured as a teenager in 2002 after a fatal firefight with U.S. special forces in Afghanistan. He’s been accused of throwing a grenade that killed a U.S. soldier and faces five charges relating to the death, including murder in violation of the laws of war.
His jurors are being drawn from a pool of U.S. military officers, with lawyers expected to whittle the final panel to as few as five people. In the screening process, the potential jurors have been asked how they feel about Muslims and whether the age of the defendant matters when judging serious crimes. Only two of the potential jurors had heard of Omar Khadr.
Opening statements, which were initially scheduled for Wednesday, have been pushed to later in the afternoon or Thursday morning. Once the trial gets underway, it is expected to last several weeks. Some of the soldiers involved in the 2002 firefight are expected to testify, as are some of Khadr’s interrogators.
The trial will coincide with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is marked by fasting from sunrise to sunset, and begins Wednesday. Khadr, a Muslim, is expected to observe the fast.
’He was allowed to feel human’
Khadr addressed his potential jurors Tuesday dressed in a suit and tie, a dramatic departure from his usual white prisoner tunic.
"How are you?" he asked them.
Canadian defence lawyer Dennis Edney had scrambled to find the outfit for his client. He lucked out, he said, when he found a pile of abandoned shoes and clothes in a courthouse closet. Remarkably, they fit Khadr.
"I said, ’Stand here take a look at yourself,’" Edney said. "And he glowed. He was allowed to feel human."
Edney, who had expressed frustration with the presiding judge, Col. Patrick Parrish, said he was more optimistic about the jury.
"I’m pleased that we’re moving into jury selection," Edney said. "Because, obviously, we’re placing our hopes on those good American soldiers."
Khadr’s case was dealt a serious blow Monday when Parrish ruled that the confessions Khadr made to police after his capture can be entered as evidence. The confessions include an admission he threw the grenade that killed the U.S. sergeant.
Parrish said he will also allow into evidence video purportedly showing the Canadian making and planting bombs in Afghanistan.
At Monday’s hearing, one of Khadr’s lawyers argued that during Khadr’s interrogation, one of the interrogators had made threats of rape and death and that this should render his client’s confessions coerced and unreliable.
Parrish rejected the argument without justifying his decision.