Washington: After 12 years and nine months a man who was taken to Guantánamo Bay at 15 years old has been granted bail, defeating an attempt by Canada’s conservative government to keep Omar Khadr in prison.
“Mr Khadr, you are free to go,” said Justice Myra Bielby.
Khadr was silent in the Edmonton court though he flashed a smile to his applauding supporters.
Nate Whitling, Khadr’s attorney, said: “Whatever anyone may think of Mr Khadr, he has now served his time.”
Bielby declined a stay request of a lower court judge’s decision to grant Khadr bail while he appeals against his US war crimes conviction.
Khadr pleaded guilty in 2010 to throwing the grenade that killed army special forces medic Sergeant First Class Christopher Speer. Khadr said that his guilty plea was a gambit to get him out of Guantánamo, where he spent nearly 13 years.
Khadr, 28, was once the youngest detainee at Guantánamo.
