Abdurahman Khadr
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Abdurahman Khadr (born 1983) is a Canadian citizen who was held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay after being detained in Afghanistan and alleged to have had connections to al-Qaida. He later trained to work as an informant for the CIA and eventually admitted that his family did have connections to al-Qaida.
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Early life
While much of Khadr's family is Canadian, he himself has only spent two years of his life in Canada. Born in Bahrain he has lived in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Scarborough, Ontario. While in Afghanistan he attended the Khalden training camp, a facility closely linked with al-Qaida. Khadr argues that when he attended the camp in 1998, he was doing so merely under the order of his father, Ahmed Said Khadr, a strong supporter of the Taliban regime and al-Qaida. He claims to have never received anything besides the most basic combat training, and views his experience as a "waste of time."
Detention and release
In November of 2001, he was arrested in Kabul and handed over to American authorities who flew him to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. After many months of detention and interrogation he was returned to Afghanistan in 2003 after no links to terrorism or al-Qaida could be found.
The story of Khadr's release and subsequent treatment is a murky one. The United States claims that he was returned in July, Khadr says he arrived in November. Khadr states that he attempted to approach Canadian embassies in various nations and was rebuffed at all of them. He finally gained admittance to the Canadian embassy in Bosnia and was flown back to Canada from there on November 30.
CBC Interview
In March, 2004, Khadr revealed in a two-part documentary broadcast by CBC that he and family members had lived in a compound with Osama bin Laden, and that his father, Ahmed Said Khadr, and some of his brothers had fought alongside al-Qaida members and even stayed with bin Laden for some time after their training.
In the interview, Khadr claimed to have lived for nine months in a CIA safe house near the American Embassy in Kabul, and worked abroad as an informant. The CIA offered him a contract and asked him to go to Guantanamo Bay as a mole at the U.S. military prison. While in Cuba, Khadr worked to obtain information from his fellow inmates before spending five additional months at the Camp X-Ray prison, undergoing training as an undercover CIA operative. He later was given a bogus passport and boarded a government plane destined towards Bosnia to conduct a spy operation at mosques in Sarajevo.
The conclusion of his work for the CIA ended as he was dropped at the Canadian embassy in Sarajevo to gain access back to Toronto. There he lied to reporters and government officials and denied any connections to terrorist organizations. Abdurahman later acknowledged that he is "the black sheep" of his family for his disavowal of support for al-Qaida, and says he just wants to be a peaceful Muslim.
In the interview, Khadr declared that 'We are an al-Qaida family'. He says he resents his father for dragging the family into a life associated with terrorism. Rumours emerged that Abdurahman's older brother, Abdullah Khadr, had been responsible for a January suicide bomb attack in Kabul that killed Canadian soldier Cpl. Jamie Murphy. Identified by members of the Taliban, Abdullah Khadr was found alive and hiding in Pakistan and was later cleared of any involvement.
Abdurahman Khadr's mother and sister, who during the 2004 CBC interview were unaware of Khadr's detailed CIA role, told the interviewer that they are proud of their family's connection to al-Qaida.
Passport issue
In July 2004, Khadr was denied a Canadian passport by explicit decision of Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham. To achieve this, Graham invoked the royal prerogative, a rarely-used power usually reserved for ceremonial duties, claiming the decision was "in the interest of the national security of Canada and the protection of Canadian troops in Afghanistan."
Khadr and his attorney, noted Toronto lawyer Clayton Ruby, have announced they will appeal the decision.
See also
External links
- CBC: The Khadrs (http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/khadr/)
- Graham refuses passport to Abdurahman Khadr (http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/07/12/canada/khadr_passport040712)
- "Son of Al Qaeda" PBS documentary on Abdurahman Khadr (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/khadr/)