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Omar Khadr Denied Unsupervised Visitation With Sister Who Says US ‘Deserved’ 9/11

REUTERS/Todd Korol.

David Krayden Ottawa Bureau Chief
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Confessed killer and former al-Qaida terrorist Omar Khadr won’t be getting unsupervised visitation rights with his older sister, Zaynab Khadr, following a Canadian court ruling.

Khadr is a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who admitted to killing U.S. Army medic Sgt. Christopher and wounding special forces Sgt. Layne Morris while he was in Afghanistan as a Canadian citizen fighting for the Taliban. He recently went to court to have his bail conditions eased, including a stipulation that he could not have unaccompanied visits with his sister.

Zaynab Khadr has frequently expressed support and sympathy for terrorists like Osama bin Laden and voiced her support for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. She attempted to justify the 9/11 terrorist strikes, telling a 2004 CBC documentary on the Khadr family that Bin Laden was focused on punishing the American government “where it will hurt, not the people. But sometimes innocent people pay the price. You don’t want to feel happy, but you just sort of think, well, they deserve it, they’ve been doing it for such a long time. Why shouldn’t they feel it once in a while?”

In a Friday ruling, Alberta Justice June Ross said that Omar Khadr and lawyer Nathan Whitling had provided no reason for the court to change its mind about the matter and that concerns over Zaynab’s attitude towards known terrorists and terrorist groups continues to give cause for concern. Zaynab is believed to be living in Sudan and wants to come to Canada to meet with her brother.

Whitling argued in court that the bail restriction should no longer apply because Omar Khadr has grown into a mature man who decides issues for himself.

“The passage of time makes a big difference,” Whitling told Ross with his client Khadr sat behind. “The idea that someone’s sister will turn him into a different person is no longer a concern.”

Whitling referred to Zaynab Khadr’s pro-terrorist comments as “some unfortunate media statements” and insisted she had done nothing wrong herself.

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