By Randall Palmer OTTAWA, March 26 (Reuters) - Lawyers for Canadian terrorism suspect Omar Khadr argued on Wednesday that Canadian investigators had violated his rights by interviewing him at Guantanamo Bay after his capture by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The Supreme Court of Canada is examining the narrow question of whether Canada must provide Khadr any information relevant to him, but Wednesday's hearing broadened to consider whether the whole U.S. process at its Guantanamo Bay prison violated human rights. The United States accuses Khadr of throwing a grenade that killed one American soldier and wounded another during a firefight at an al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan in 2002. Khadr, 15 at the time and now 21, was shot twice in the back. Officials of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service went to the Guantanamo naval base in Cuba, where Khadr and more than 300 non-Americans accused of links to al Qaeda or associated Islamist groups are being held, to interview him. "Canada should have refrained from going down there and participating in this violation of its young citizen's rights under international law," Khadr's lawyer, Nathan Whitling, told the court. "They should not have participated in this process. They should not have taken advantage of his vulnerability." Arguing that he could receive an unfair trial as the result of information Canada shared with the United States after interviewing him, Whitling said Canada has the obligation to hand over all information it has on him to help his defense. The Canadian government pointed to the seriousness of the allegations against Khadr and said national security interests required the protection of its information. Government lawyer Robert Frater said one of the charges in the U.S. indictment against Khadr was that he converted land mines into other explosive devices "with the intent to kill U.S. and coalition forces." "As part of the coalition, we (in Canada) are in effect victims," he said, arguing Khadr has no right to any information about what Canada knows about what he may have done. "Those are national defense or national security matters and the highest level of protection is accorded to it." Sitting in the courtroom were Khadr's mother and two sisters, completely covered in traditional Muslim dress except for slits for their eyes. In a wheelchair with a black-and-white checkered headdress on his lap sat Khadr's younger brother, Abdul Karim, paralyzed in 2003 when Pakistani forces attacked an alleged al Qaeda refuge in Pakistan and killed his father. Family members have spoken on television about their ties with al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and how the family spent extended time on his compound in Afghanistan before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Another lawyer for Khadr, Dennis Edney, told reporters after the court hearing that the U.S. military prosecution's case against him was unraveling, partly as the result of documents that had been disclosed already. This emphasized the need for more disclosure, he said. Last week Khadr said in an affidavit that he had repeatedly been threatened with rape during interrogations. Edney called on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to press the U.S. government to get Khadr out of Guantanamo. Ottawa has refrained from doing so so far because of the seriousness of the charges against him. Whitling estimated that Khadr's case at Guantanamo would go to trial in early July. The Canadian court did not reach a decision on Wednesday but will be under pressure to be quick given the need to prepare for the U.S. trial. (Editing by Peter Galloway)
Turkish riot police take cover behind an armoured personnel carrier to protect themselves from petrol bombs and stones hurled by Kurdish protesters during clashes after the Newroz day celebrations in the ...
