A MILITARY judge is examining the legality of a young Canadian held in Guantanamo Bay after being arrested at age 15 in Afghanistan. Omar Khadr was seized in Afghanistan in 2002 and taken to the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as part of the drive to round up extremists in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Now in his early 20s, he is accused of killing a US soldier with a hand grenade as he was being arrested for making explosives. Defense lawyers argue the special military courts set up in Guantanamo have no authority to try minors. They maintain that if Mr Khadr's case goes to trial it will be the first time in Western history that a person will have been tried for war crimes committed while still a child.
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Canadian parliamentarians and law experts, as well as human rights groups, have all supported Mr Khadr's lawyers. "UNICEF is concerned that such a prosecution, in particular in front of a military commission not equipped to meet the required standards, would set a dangerous precedent for the protection of hundreds of thousands of children who find themselves unwittingly involved in conflict around the world,'' the UN children's fund said.