prison

Friday May 8, 2015

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator - Friday May 8, 2015 Omar Khadr walks free on bail after 13 years in custody With those words, Alberta Court of Appeal Justice Myra Bielby turned down the federal governmentÕs last-ditch effort Thursday to keep the 28-year-old detained. Omar Khadr broke into a big, wide smile when the decision was read. His supporters in the courtroom erupted in cheers. At 2:03 p.m. Toronto time, his lawyer Nathan Whitling posted a picture on Twitter of Khadr walking out of the courtroom with the caption: Ò#omarkhadr walks free.Ó The burly young man wore sneakers, jeans and a black T-shirt with his other lawyer, Dennis Edney, flanking him. ÒWhatever anybody might think of Mr. Khadr he has now served his time.Ó Bielby had heard arguments in the case Tuesday but said she could not rule immediately and granted the government a 48-hour stay in the bail order. Her decision to turn down the governmentÕs emergency motion cannot be appealed, but Ottawa will appeal the bail order itself, which was granted in March by Justice June Ross. No date has been set yet for that appeal and Khadr is free on bail until the case works its way through the appeal court. "We are disappointed by the decision of the court, because we feel that victims should be considered in the decisions," Public Safety Minster Steven Blaney said at a press conference. Blaney said legal procedures against Khadr are "still underway" but he would not comment on whether the case will go to the Supreme Court. In an earlier statement, Blaney also said: ÒOmar Khadr pleaded guilty to heinous crimes, including the murder of American Army medic Sergeant Christopher Speer. By his own admission, as reported in the media, his ideology has not changed. (Source: Toronto Star) http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/05/07/khadr-learns-his-fate-this-morning.html Canada, justice, Omar Khadr, court, detainee, terrorism, security, destiny, prison, release, jail

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday May 8, 2015

Omar Khadr walks free on bail after 13 years in custody

With those words, Alberta Court of Appeal Justice Myra Bielby turned down the federal government’s last-ditch effort Thursday to keep the 28-year-old detained.

Omar Khadr broke into a big, wide smile when the decision was read. His supporters in the courtroom erupted in cheers.

At 2:03 p.m. Toronto time, his lawyer Nathan Whitling posted a picture on Twitter of Khadr walking out of the courtroom with the caption: “#omarkhadr walks free.” The burly young man wore sneakers, jeans and a black T-shirt with his other lawyer, Dennis Edney, flanking him.

“Whatever anybody might think of Mr. Khadr he has now served his time.”

Bielby had heard arguments in the case Tuesday but said she could not rule immediately and granted the government a 48-hour stay in the bail order.

Her decision to turn down the government’s emergency motion cannot be appealed, but Ottawa will appeal the bail order itself, which was granted in March by Justice June Ross.

No date has been set yet for that appeal and Khadr is free on bail until the case works its way through the appeal court.

“We are disappointed by the decision of the court, because we feel that victims should be considered in the decisions,” Public Safety Minster Steven Blaney said at a press conference. Blaney said legal procedures against Khadr are “still underway” but he would not comment on whether the case will go to the Supreme Court.

In an earlier statement, Blaney also said: “Omar Khadr pleaded guilty to heinous crimes, including the murder of American Army medic Sergeant Christopher Speer. By his own admission, as reported in the media, his ideology has not changed. (Source: Toronto Star)

Tuesday October 2, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday October 2, 2012

The U.S. dumps a problem on Ottawa, with Omar Khadr’s return

For the Conservatives, Omar Khadr was an opportunity. Now he’s just a problem.

Mr. Khadr has finally returned to Canada, to serve out the remainder of his sentence for crimes committed against the United States in Afghanistan. Stephen Harper’s Conservative government had done everything in its legal power, short of a diplomatic breach with the U.S. government, to keep him interned at Guantanamo Bay, America’s problem.

But those efforts ran out, and now Mr. Khadr is coming home, where he will earn more than his share of unwelcome attention.

When Mr. Khadr was first apprehended on an Afghanistan battlefield by American forces and sent to Guantanamo, the Liberal government of the day treated him like the embarrassment he was. Foreign and Justice ministers spoke about him only when pressed, and then only in the most guarded of sentences. Ottawa was happy to let the Americans prosecute his crimes.

The Conservatives were less circumspect. Mr. Khadr was a wedge, one they were happy to exploit.

Human rights advocates saw Mr. Khadr not as a criminal or terrorist, but as a victim. At worst, he was a young offender, duped by his family into joining a war he was too immature to comprehend.

He was, in their eyes, a child soldier, no more complicit than the children impressed into the armies of African warlords. And his detention at Guantanamo was part and parcel of the Bush government’s abusive war against terrorists.

Conservatives have no truck with such talk; nor, they believe, do most Canadians, especially those Canadians inclined to vote Conservative. (Source: Globe & Mail) 

 

Saturday July 24, 2010

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday July 24, 2010

Conrad Black & Omar Khadr

Former media mogul Conrad Black is being sued for $71 million in back taxes by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, which alleges he failed to report $120 million in U.S. income during the period 1998 to2003.

Conrad Black Cartoon Gallery

The IRS claims in U.S. federal tax court that Black filed no tax returns and paid no tax on $120 million (all figures U.S.) in taxable income between 1998 and 2003, according to media reports.

According to Forbes business magazine, Black – currently serving a 6 1/2-year sentence in a Florida prison – is challenging the claim, arguing in court filings he was not subject to U.S. taxing authority. (Toronto Star)  

Meanwhile, In a calm, measured voice, Omar Khadr made clear his feelings about the judicial machinery that has kept him captive at Guantanamo Bay for the better part of eight years, even smiling on occasion as he addressed the judge, Col. Patrick Parrish, and his Canadian lawyer, Dennis Edney.”I will not willingly let the U.S. government use me to fulfil their goal, ” the bearded Khadr, 23, said Monday as he explained why he rejected the deal recently offered by military prosecutors.

Pleading guilty at his trial next month would “give an excuse to the government for torturing me and abusing me as a child, ” he said.

For much of Monday’s hearing there were protracted exchanges between Khadr and Parrish about whether the Canadian detainee wanted to represent himself at his trial or boycott the entire proceeding.

Parrish quizzed Khadr about his mental health.

“This place is not a five-star hotel, ” he replied, “so I’m sure it’s going to have an effect on me. I don’t know.”

Khadr is charged with war crimes that include killing an American soldier in Afghanistan in July 2002 when he was just 15. Human rights organizations and other advocates have argued Khadr was a child soldier and should have been rehabilitated by the U.S., not imprisoned.

Khadr is the only remaining westerner among Guantanamo’s 181 prisoners and the youngest. (Toronto Star) 

 

Tuesday December 11, 2007

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday December 11, 2007

Conrad Black sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison

A Chicago judge sentenced disgraced media tycoon Conrad Black to six and one-half years — or 78 months — in prison and handed him a $125,000 fine, which must be paid within 90 days. 

Conrad Black Cartoon Gallery

Black made his way through a throng of reporters outside the courthouse, offering little comment other than to say an appeal “would speak for itself.” 

He was told to report to the Florida penitentiary at Eglin Air Force Base before March 3, although it was soon discovered that Eglin has been closed for a year. The government is now asking that Black serve his time at another low-security prison in the same state: Federal Correctional Institution Coleman. 

Judge Amy St. Eve told Black she felt he was not a “future threat” because of everything he had lost. 

Black spoke for only a few minutes in court, despite reports that he had prepared a 5,000-word statement. 

He complimented the judge on her handling of the trial, and said he regretted the loss suffered by Hollinger International shareholders. 

Black was also ordered to forfeit $6.1 million for fraud and obstruction of justice — with no right to restitution. (Source: CTV News) 

 

Thursday July 19, 2007

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday July 19, 2007

Strip Conrad of Order of Canada, NDP urges

The reputation of former media baron Conrad Black, who fell from fortune to felon last week, could plummet even further now that the federal New Democrats are asking Rideau Hall to strip away Black’s Order of Canada.

Conrad Black Cartoon Gallery

The NDP has put in an official request to take away Canada’s highest civilian honour from the former head of Hollinger Inc., reasoning Black’s convictions for three counts of fraud and one count of obstruction of justice in Chicago on July 13 undermine the integrity of the award.

NDP heritage critic Charlie Angus told the Canadian Press that the Order of Canada was meant to represent the noblest achievements of Canada’s men and women, but “when someone falls below that standard by being convicted, in the past they’ve been removed from that order.”

Black’s leading defence lawyer, Edward Greenspan, e-mailed a statement to the Canadian Press saying that any move to strip Black of the order should wait until the judicial process is completed.

“Since we have announced that there will be an appeal, the only appropriate thing to do is to await the result of the appeal before any motion about his Order of Canada should be brought,” Greenspan wrote. (Source: CBC News)