On August 6, 2010, the US Supreme Court refused to block the military trial of Canadian Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr. The Supreme Court issued a one-line order denying the Khadr's petition for a stay. The order had no noted dissents and offered no explanation of the ruling. Khadr was charged at the age of 15 after being captured after a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan in which he was alleged to have thrown a hand grenade that killed one US soldier and wounded another. In November 2010, a panel of seven senior US military officers sentenced him to 40 years in prison, but Khadr will serve no more than eight years under the terms of a plea agreement. Khadr pleaded guilty to all five charges against him, including murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, providing material support for terrorism and espionage, agreeing to serve an eight-year sentence. He will serve only one year of his sentence at Guantanamo and will then be able to apply to be transferred to Canada where he will be eligible for parole after serving one-third of his sentence.


Omar Khadr

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