Guantanamo ex-inmate granted bail in Canada, release likely in May

A Canadian court on Friday granted bail to former Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr, who was 15 when he was captured on an Afghan battlefield in 2002 and sent to the US jail in Cuba.

Khadr's lawyer Nathan Whitling told AFP the conditions of his release -- granted pending the outcome of his appeal of his US conviction over the killing of a US soldier in Afghanistan -- are to be determined at a hearing on May 5, when Khadr is expected to be freed.

"Even though the applicant has pled guilty to serious offenses, he should be granted judicial interim release because he has a strong basis for an appeal," the court ruled.
The court also found that "the risk to public safety is not such that it is in the public's best interest that he remain in pre-appeal detention in a manner that could render his appeal irrelevant."

Now 28, Khadr was sentenced to eight years in 2010 following a military hearing in which he agreed to plead guilty to murder in violation of the laws of war, attempted murder, conspiracy, providing material support for terrorism and spying.

He was repatriated to Canada after spending 10 years in the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba following his arrest as a teenager in Afghanistan.