The smelly fish scales of corrupted 'justice'
Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2015 10:56 pm
U.S. judge awards $134M in lawsuit against Omar Khadr
July 3, 2015
A U.S. judge has granted $134.2 million in damages to the widow of an American soldier killed in Afghanistan and another soldier partially blinded by a hand grenade in their lawsuit against former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr.
In their lawsuit, Tabitha Speer and Layne Morris, alleged a teenage Khadr was responsible for the death of Sgt. Christopher Speer and Morris’s injuries in Afghanistan in July 2002.
Their case rested largely on Khadr’s guilty plea to five war crimes before a widely maligned U.S. military commission in Guantanamo Bay in October 2010.
Khadr, now 28, who spent 10 years at Guantanamo Bay and was transferred to Canada in 2012, has since said he only pleaded guilty to get out of Guantanamo and is seeking to have his conviction overturned.
The plaintiffs acknowledged Thursday that there is little chance they will collect any of the money from him.
“It’s really more of a statement case, I think, than a desire to collect this,” lawyer Laura Tanner, who represents Speer and Morris.
While Khadr is essentially penniless, having spent almost 13 years behind bars before finally being released on bail, he is in the process of suing the Canadian government for $20 million for alleged violations of his civil rights.
A Utah judge handed down the default judgment on June 8 after the suit got no answer from Khadr.
“Omar Khadr has been in jail so he can’t defend himself,” said his attorney Dennis Edney.
Still, the plaintiffs’ lawyers are seeking a Canadian law firm to help collect the money.
A Calgary lawyer who was consulted but not retained by the plaintiffs’ legal team said an application must be brought before Canadian courts before the ruling can be enforced.
Gerald Chipeur said Canadian courts generally recognize American judgments but there’s always a possibility the ruling could be rejected.
The big question, he said, is whether Khadr was given proper notice of the legal action against him.
The case against Toronto-born Khadr drew criticism from human rights groups because he was captured as a teenager and seriously wounded during a four-hour battle at an al-Qaida compound in Afghanistan.
His lawyers contended he was groomed to be a child soldier, forced into fighting the U.S. by a radical father who was accused of being a senior al-Qaida financier. Military prosecutors in the case, meanwhile, portrayed Khadr as a dangerous terrorist.
After his May release from prison in Alberta on bail, Khadr apologized to the families of the victims. He said he rejects violent jihad and wants a fresh start to finish his education and work in health care.
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“A U.S. judge has granted $134.2 million in damages to the widow of an American soldier killed in Afghanistan and another soldier partially blinded by a hand grenade in their lawsuit against former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr. In their lawsuit, Tabitha Speer and Layne Morris, alleged a teenage Khadr was responsible for the death of Sgt. Christopher Speer and Morris’s injuries in Afghanistan.”
One might have expected that there’s a risk in fighting a war as a soldier and being seriously injured or even killed. But it seems that a U.S. judge felt otherwise and decided to award damages to the absurd tune of $134.2 million. Go figure, eh. And for his supposed war crimes the then-child-soldier Khadr spent 13 years in Guantanamo Bay’s renowned water-boarding-torture and cell-bars vacation resort.
“Their case rested largely on Khadr’s guilty plea to five war crimes before a widely maligned U.S. military commission in Guantanamo Bay in October 2010. Khadr, now 28, who spent 10 years at Guantanamo Bay and was transferred to Canada in 2012, has since said he only pleaded guilty to get out of Guantanamo and is seeking to have his conviction overturned.”
“War crimes”?! Since when does lobbing a grenade, etcetera, at enemy soldiers and/or army medics thus not surprisingly resulting in enemy casualties of war constitute a war crime? Again, absurd; and furthermore blatant hypocrisy: To the best of my recollection, there were no U.S. investigators having war crimes charges laid against U.S. attack-helicopter operators sounding quite pleased with their having deliberately targeted and shot dead, with a large calibre machine gun, actual Afghani civilians conversing at a street corner in their home country. For those who’ve conveniently forgot, the said two assailing gunship operators’ true war crime was documented by their own recording equipment which caught their vicious slaughter of the Afghanis in civilian dress – all previously-hidden coverage released for the world to see by WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange.
“It’s really more of a statement case, I think, than a desire to collect this,” lawyer Laura Tanner, who represents Speer and Morris.”
Quite the statement, one of who exactly are the far greater amongst humankind equals on this planet.
“A Utah judge handed down the default judgment on June 8 after the suit got no answer from Khadr. “Omar Khadr has been in [a Canadian] jail so he can’t defend himself,” said his attorney Dennis Edney.”
Justice gone perverse, one can only presume, when total inability to attend a civil-suit hearing due to imprisonment in another country is deemed by an alleged impartial judge to be no excuse.
“ … Canadian courts generally recognize American judgments but there’s always a possibility the [$134.2 million] ruling could be rejected.”
Fear not, for even if it’s legally rejected, Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper will likely trip over his own feet in his haste to appease U.S.-court-order beholders by drinking their Capitol Hill bathwater. He’s only too happy to ensure that Canadian taxpayers share in any ‘fight against terror’, etcetera, real or not.
July 3, 2015
A U.S. judge has granted $134.2 million in damages to the widow of an American soldier killed in Afghanistan and another soldier partially blinded by a hand grenade in their lawsuit against former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr.
In their lawsuit, Tabitha Speer and Layne Morris, alleged a teenage Khadr was responsible for the death of Sgt. Christopher Speer and Morris’s injuries in Afghanistan in July 2002.
Their case rested largely on Khadr’s guilty plea to five war crimes before a widely maligned U.S. military commission in Guantanamo Bay in October 2010.
Khadr, now 28, who spent 10 years at Guantanamo Bay and was transferred to Canada in 2012, has since said he only pleaded guilty to get out of Guantanamo and is seeking to have his conviction overturned.
The plaintiffs acknowledged Thursday that there is little chance they will collect any of the money from him.
“It’s really more of a statement case, I think, than a desire to collect this,” lawyer Laura Tanner, who represents Speer and Morris.
While Khadr is essentially penniless, having spent almost 13 years behind bars before finally being released on bail, he is in the process of suing the Canadian government for $20 million for alleged violations of his civil rights.
A Utah judge handed down the default judgment on June 8 after the suit got no answer from Khadr.
“Omar Khadr has been in jail so he can’t defend himself,” said his attorney Dennis Edney.
Still, the plaintiffs’ lawyers are seeking a Canadian law firm to help collect the money.
A Calgary lawyer who was consulted but not retained by the plaintiffs’ legal team said an application must be brought before Canadian courts before the ruling can be enforced.
Gerald Chipeur said Canadian courts generally recognize American judgments but there’s always a possibility the ruling could be rejected.
The big question, he said, is whether Khadr was given proper notice of the legal action against him.
The case against Toronto-born Khadr drew criticism from human rights groups because he was captured as a teenager and seriously wounded during a four-hour battle at an al-Qaida compound in Afghanistan.
His lawyers contended he was groomed to be a child soldier, forced into fighting the U.S. by a radical father who was accused of being a senior al-Qaida financier. Military prosecutors in the case, meanwhile, portrayed Khadr as a dangerous terrorist.
After his May release from prison in Alberta on bail, Khadr apologized to the families of the victims. He said he rejects violent jihad and wants a fresh start to finish his education and work in health care.
___________________________________________________________________________________
“A U.S. judge has granted $134.2 million in damages to the widow of an American soldier killed in Afghanistan and another soldier partially blinded by a hand grenade in their lawsuit against former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr. In their lawsuit, Tabitha Speer and Layne Morris, alleged a teenage Khadr was responsible for the death of Sgt. Christopher Speer and Morris’s injuries in Afghanistan.”
One might have expected that there’s a risk in fighting a war as a soldier and being seriously injured or even killed. But it seems that a U.S. judge felt otherwise and decided to award damages to the absurd tune of $134.2 million. Go figure, eh. And for his supposed war crimes the then-child-soldier Khadr spent 13 years in Guantanamo Bay’s renowned water-boarding-torture and cell-bars vacation resort.
“Their case rested largely on Khadr’s guilty plea to five war crimes before a widely maligned U.S. military commission in Guantanamo Bay in October 2010. Khadr, now 28, who spent 10 years at Guantanamo Bay and was transferred to Canada in 2012, has since said he only pleaded guilty to get out of Guantanamo and is seeking to have his conviction overturned.”
“War crimes”?! Since when does lobbing a grenade, etcetera, at enemy soldiers and/or army medics thus not surprisingly resulting in enemy casualties of war constitute a war crime? Again, absurd; and furthermore blatant hypocrisy: To the best of my recollection, there were no U.S. investigators having war crimes charges laid against U.S. attack-helicopter operators sounding quite pleased with their having deliberately targeted and shot dead, with a large calibre machine gun, actual Afghani civilians conversing at a street corner in their home country. For those who’ve conveniently forgot, the said two assailing gunship operators’ true war crime was documented by their own recording equipment which caught their vicious slaughter of the Afghanis in civilian dress – all previously-hidden coverage released for the world to see by WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange.
“It’s really more of a statement case, I think, than a desire to collect this,” lawyer Laura Tanner, who represents Speer and Morris.”
Quite the statement, one of who exactly are the far greater amongst humankind equals on this planet.
“A Utah judge handed down the default judgment on June 8 after the suit got no answer from Khadr. “Omar Khadr has been in [a Canadian] jail so he can’t defend himself,” said his attorney Dennis Edney.”
Justice gone perverse, one can only presume, when total inability to attend a civil-suit hearing due to imprisonment in another country is deemed by an alleged impartial judge to be no excuse.
“ … Canadian courts generally recognize American judgments but there’s always a possibility the [$134.2 million] ruling could be rejected.”
Fear not, for even if it’s legally rejected, Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper will likely trip over his own feet in his haste to appease U.S.-court-order beholders by drinking their Capitol Hill bathwater. He’s only too happy to ensure that Canadian taxpayers share in any ‘fight against terror’, etcetera, real or not.