Khadr pleads guilty to war crimes at Guantanamo

In this photo of a sketch by courtroom artist Janet Hamlin and reviewed by a U.S. Department of Defense official Capt Michael Grant, USAF swears in Omar Khadr, right, at the Camp Justice compound of Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba, Monday, Oct. 25, 2010.

Omar Khadr will be able to seek transfer to a Canadian prison within one year, after he pleaded guilty to war-crimes charges in a U.S. military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay on Monday.

Changing his original plea from not-guilty means Khadr is admitting he threw a grenade that killed a U.S. medic in Afghanistan in 2002. He also admitted to planting improvised explosive devices and receiving weapons training from al Qaeda.

The plea also means that Khadr, 24, will avoid a possible life sentence that could have resulted if he had pressed forward with his war-crimes trial.

Khadr, dressed in a dark suit and tie, was questioned by presiding judge Col. Patrick Parrish about whether he understood the terms of the 50-paragraph document that spells out the details of what he is admitting to the court.

"Has anyone forced you to enter into this stipulation?" Parrish asked Khadr on Monday morning.

"No," Khadr replied to the judge.

After a half-hour of questioning, Parrish asked Khadr: "It's your voluntary decision to continue with the plea of guilty?"

Khadr told the judge "yes."

His guilty plea is accompanied by a plea agreement that is not being disclosed for the time being. However, Khadr's lawyer, Dennis Edney, said his client will be able to apply for transfer to a Canadian prison after serving one year of his sentence.

Edney told CTV News Channel he received a diplomatic note on Sunday afternoon in which the Canadian government "indicated that it was inclined to accede to the United States' request to have Omar come home after one year."

The move marks a change in course for the government, which has long refused to repatriate Khadr.

Catherine Loubier, a spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, refused to comment on Monday's developments.

"This matter is between Mr. Khadr and the U.S. government. We have no further comment," Loubier said.

Before the details of the plea are officially released, a military jury will have an opportunity to deliver its own sentence for Khadr.

Should the jury impose a harsher sentence than is included in the deal, the tribunal's convening authority will reject it in favour of the terms set out in the plea agreement. If the jury recommends less jail time, Khadr will serve the lesser sentence, Edney said.

Khadr will likely spend a total of eight years in prison -- no more than one year in Guantanamo and the rest in Canada, Edney said.

Reporting from Guantanamo Bay, CTV's Washington Bureau Chief Paul Workman said the jurors will not know the contents of the deal when they consider and deliver their sentence.

With the plea in place, Workman said the bottom line is that "a trial has been avoided, there is a plea agreement and we're just going to have to see how that plays out."

Khadr has been in U.S. custody since he was captured in Afghanistan when he was 15 years old. At this point, he has spent one-third of his life in U.S. custody.

Khadr is the last Western citizen to be held at Guantanamo and the only person who has been charged in connection with the death of an American in Afghanistan.

His supporters say that Khadr is not a war criminal, but a child-soldier who was dragged into conflict by his father, Ahmed Said Khadr, a one-time associate of Osama bin Laden who was killed in Pakistan in 2003.

Khadr had long rejected the notion of a plea agreement. However, Edney said Monday his client had no choice but to plead guilty to avoid a trial under the special military commission process established specifically for Guantanamo detainees. Edney called the tribunal "an absolute sham."

"With the approach of the midterm elections, the U.S. government approached Omar with a simple proposition: sign this piece of paper and you'll be out of here, this hellhole called Guantanamo Bay, and return to Canada in one year," Edney said.

"Had Omar refused he would have faced an unfair trial, based on the evidence that would be inadmissible in any real court, and he would be exposed to life in Guantanamo Bay or even worse, if there is such a place… What choice would you make?"

A sentencing hearing for Khadr will get underway this week, during which time the widow of Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer, who Khadr has admitted killing, will give a victim impact statement. Another U.S. soldier who was blinded in one eye during the firefight is also expected to speak.

During his remaining time at Guantanamo, Khadr will be kept in solitary confinement, according to Edney, who said his client will likely be eligible for parole after spending another year and a few months in an as-yet unnamed Canadian prison.

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