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Confessed Killer Khadr Wants Fewer Restrictions On His Freedom

REUTERS/Todd Korol.

David Krayden Ottawa Bureau Chief
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Former al-Qaida terrorist and confessed killed Omar Khadr is going back to Canadian court to seek fewer restrictions on his freedom.

According to the Canadian Press, Khadr wants his bail conditions changed so that he can move anywhere in Canada, have complete access to the internet, and visit his controversial sister without his lawyer and bail supervisor being in the same room.

Khadr’s sister, Zaynab Khadr, has infuriated Canadians with her positive appraisals of al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden. In an interview with PBS’s Frontline, she was asked how parents could allow their children to become suicide bombers and Zaynab responded: “You must be very brave. You must be very, very, very brave. I mean I don’t have the guts to do that yet.”

Omar Khadr has written-off the comments by saying his sister was “saying things out of frustration.”

The Trudeau government gave Khadr $10.5 million (CDN) in “compensation” and issued a formal apology at the beginning of July because the Supreme Court of Canada described his incarceration at Guantanamo Bay as “oppressive.” Khadr claims he was tortured by U.S. and Canadian interrogators while a prisoner there. The payout and apology angered Canadians, given that Khadr had produced improvised explosive devices for the Taliban in Afghanistan and confessed to killing U.S. Army special forces medic Sgt. Christopher Speer with a hand grenade.

In a poll taken immediately after the money was quietly given to Khadr, 71 percent of Canadians opposed the decision.

In his affidavit, Khadr told the court: “I am now an adult and I think independently. Even if the members of my family were to wish to influence my religious or other views, they would not be able to control or influence me in any negative manner.”

Khadr’s sister recently had a forth child in Egypt and had passport troubles last year when she visited Turkey. According to the Canadian Press, Zaynab Khadr is now living in Sudan with her fourth husband, and the pair have made plans to visit Canada.

“I would like to be able to spend time with her and the rest of our family when she is here,” Omar Khadr says in his affidavit. “As far as I am aware, Zaynab is not involved in any criminal activities and is frequently in contact with the Canadian embassy in order to ensure that her paperwork is up to date.”

Khadr, who is now married, says he plans to pursue nursing studies at a college in Red Deer, Alberta. He currently resides in the provincial capitol of Edmonton.

“I wish to become independent and to put my legal matters behind me,” Khadr’s affidavit insists. “I am a law-abiding citizen and I wish to live free of court-imposed conditions.”

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