[Al Arabiya] A plea deal was reached in the case of the accused war criminal Omar Baby FaceKhadr in Guantanamo on Thursday that ensures his return "soon" to Canada to serve the rest of his sentence, sources close to the trial told Al Arabiya.
Last night, the Military Commission's Convening Authority agreed to a deal presented by the Khadr's defense.
Khadr's trial, which started two months ago in Guantanamo, had been postponed due to the illness of his military lawyer, lt.col. Jon Jackson, who had collapsed during the trial at the navy base in Cuba.
Jackson refused to comment on the sentence.
Sources told Al Arabiya that the Pentagon was under pressure to accept the plea deal less than a month before the midterm elections. The deal would also save the U.S. government the embarrassment of having to try a detainee who was a minor--15 years old--when he was said to have committed his alleged war crimes. At the same time, the deal would guarantee that khadr serve the full sentence he was handed in his trial by the Guantanamo Military Commission.
Khadr's case had received a lot of international attention due to his Canadian citizenship, his young age and the allegations of torture he directed against his interrogators. Khadr, now 24, was captured in Afghanistan in 2002 after a firefight where he was severely injured. He challenged accusations by saying he was threatened with rape and death if he didn't admit to throwing the grenade that killed Sgt. Speer.
Khadr is the only person accused by the United States of killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan, where more than 1,200 US soldiers have been killed since the beginning of the war.
The government and defense had painted two vastly different pictures of Khadr during the beginning of the trial in August: the prosecution claimed he was a hardened terrorist who admitted to being proud of planning to kill Americans. They showed a video of him planting explosive devises in Afghanistan. His defense disputes the assessment and says Khadr was a child who was pressured by his father, a follower of Bin Laden, to join an Al Qaeda cell in Afghanistan.