Omar Khadr granted bail

Omar Khadr   - sentenced to 40 years in a GITMO Military Tribunal - was granted bail in a Canadian civilian court last week:

From CBC:

Omar Khadr granted bail, but federal government to appeal


Convicted war criminal to remain at Bowden Institution in Alberta until bail conditions are set

CBC News Apr 23, 2015 
Convicted war criminal Omar Khadr, the Canadian transferred to an Alberta facility after serving time at Guantanamo Bay, has been granted bail.


Shortly after the decision was announced, the federal government said it would appeal the decision made by an Alberta judge.


Court of Queen's Bench Justice June Ross, in a 23-page decision, granted Khadr's bail request Friday morning. He will remain in custody until a May 5 hearing to set out his bail conditions.


"Even though the applicant has pled guilty to serious offences, he should be granted judicial interim release," the judge wrote, "because he has a strong basis for an appeal, and the risk to public safety is not such that it is in the public's best interest that he remain in pre-appeal detention in a manner that could render his appeal irrelevant."


Khadr's Edmonton lawyer, Dennis Edney, said the case will now go back before the courts to work out the conditions of his client's release, including where he will live and what he will do with his time. ..

Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr, shown in this undated image from Bowden Institution in Innisfail, Alta., was granted bail by an Alberta judge Friday. (Bowden Institution/Canadian Press)

There is more here.

Khadr may be smiling in that undated picture, but not all are as thrilled with bail being granted. If you want to get a hint how I feel about it, check out the very first link above.

US LT. COL (retired) Allen West pretty much summed up:

Canadian government about to do something DISGUSTING with this jihadi murderer

Written by Allen West on April 27, 2015

There’s not much I need to say about this story, other than I am truly disgusted.

As reported by The Stripes, “A Canadian judge on Friday ordered the release of a former Guantanamo Bay inmate while he appeals his conviction in a Washington court for war crimes, including killing a U.S. soldier. Judge June Ross said the terms of Omar Khadr’s release will be determined May 5. Canada’s government said it would appeal the order. Toronto-born Khadr is in prison in Alberta, serving out an eight-year sentence handed down by a U.S. military commission in 2010. He was convicted of five war-crimes, including throwing a grenade when he was 15 years old that killed Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer in Afghanistan during a 2002 firefight. He spent a decade in Guantanamo Bay. Khadr, now 28, agreed to a plea deal in 2010 that stipulated he serve one year of his eight-year sentence at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. He has since said he only pleaded guilty to get out of Guantanamo and be sent back to Canada. Ross said Khadr has a strong basis for appeal and keeping him behind bars would not be in the public interest.”Omar is fortunate to be back in Canada where we have real courts and real laws,” said Nate Whitling, one of Khadr’s lawyers.”

I find Mr. Whitling’s comments disrespectful, disingenuous, and denigrating to the United States of America and to all the men and women — and their families — who have lost their lives fighting against Islamic jihadism. Mr. Whitling is indicative of the yellow-backed “coexist” crowd who extends constitutional rights and privileges to non-state, non-uniform unlawful enemy combatants captured on the modern 21st century battlefield.

I don’t give a doggone how old Omar Khadr was when he made the decision to throw a grenade and kill an American Soldier, SFC Christopher Speer. If anything, Khadr deserves to die. At the very least, he should never see the light of freedom for the rest of his life — SFC Speer certainly will not. And convicted of war crimes? I suppose in the true progressive socialist mantra, “what difference at this point does it make?”

 
You can be sure that Allen West has much more to say on this topic, and he doesn't hold back.   GO read it all.

SFC Christopher Speer is unavailable for comment.


Khadr and his supporters may be thrilled by this latest development, but I don't believe this IS a done deal.  The fat lady ain't singing, yet.

Pay attention.