JURIST - Paper Chase: Canada high court refuses to hear Abdullah Khadr extradition appeal

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Canada [official website] on Thursday declined to hear the government's appeal in the extradition of accused al Qaeda arms supplier Abdullah Khadr, bringing to a close efforts to extradite him to the US. The appeal was brought by Canada's attorney general on behalf of the US government [CP report] which sought to extradite Khadr to face charges in the US of providing weapons to al Qaeda [AP report] to be used against coalition forces in Afghanistan. The government argued that the extradition was required by international obligations [AFP report]. In line with established practice, the court did not state reasons for refusing to hear the case. Abdullah Khadr is the older brother of Omar Khadr [DOD materials; JURIST news archive], the youngest detainee at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive].

In May, the Court of Appeal for Ontario [official website] upheld a decision [JURIST report] to halt extradition proceedings for Abdullah Khadr. According to the appeals court, a Toronto judge was right to release Abdullah Khadr [JURIST report] last summer because extraditing him to the US would be tantamount to ignoring that he was allegedly subjected to torture in Pakistan at the behest of the US. Abdullah Khadr was detained by Canadian law enforcement in summer 2005 on the basis of a US warrant. In February 2006, the US government formally requested his extradition [JURIST report] from Canada. He was indicted [JURIST report] in 2006 by a US federal grand jury on four counts connected to his alleged procurement of destructive devices to be used against US forces in Afghanistan in 2003 and faces a possible life sentence and a USD $1,000,000 fine.