Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he shares your pain — but he thinks Canadians should respect the rights of confessed terrorist Omar Khadr.
Trudeau came close to acknowledging the $10.5 million payout to Khadr Thursday when he said it might have cost as much as $40 million if the case had gone to court.
Khadr was awarded the money last week for alleged abuses he received while a detainee at Guantanamo Bay. He confessed to killing a U.S. Army medic and blinding another solider with a grenade while he was a volunteer with al-Qaida fighting against both Canadian and U.S. soldiers.
“I can understand Canadians’ concerns about the settlement. In fact, I share those concerns about the money. That’s why we settled,” Trudeau told reporters.
Khadr had filed a $20 million lawsuit against the government for allegedly violating his rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“If we had continued to fight this, not only would we have inevitably lost, but estimates range from $30 to $40 million that it would have ended up costing the government,” Trudeau said.
“This was the responsible path to take.”
Trudeau has refused to acknowledge exactly how much money has been delivered to the notorious ex-terrorist. Khadr has confessed to killing Sgt. Chris Speer when his al-Qaida troop ambushed U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
But Trudeau says Canadians should be defending Khadr’s rights.
“The measure of a society — a just society — is not whether we stand up for people’s rights when it’s easy or popular to do so. It’s whether we recognize rights when it’s difficult, when it’s unpopular.”