Harper quiet on Khadr release, says thoughts are with Speer’s family

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper sounded an unrepentant note Friday about his Conservative government’s failed efforts to keep former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr behind bars.
Khadr has pleaded guilty to serious crimes, including murder, Harper told a news conference, adding that his thoughts and prayers would remain with the family of U.S. Sgt. Christopher Speer.
Khadr, now 28, pleaded guilty in October 2010 before a widely discredited military commission to five war crimes — including murder in the death of Speer, a U.S. special forces soldier.

Harper refused to say anything further, citing the fact the matter remains before the courts.
Khadr spent almost 13 years behind bars — four of them as a convicted war criminal.
He was captured, badly wounded, by American forces in Afghanistan in July 2002, when he was 15 years old. At one time, he was the youngest prisoner at the American prison compound in Guantanamo Bay.
After his release on bail Thursday, he offered a comment on Harper’s hard-line stance: “I’m going to have to disappoint him, I’m better than the person he thinks I am.”
Justice Minister Peter MacKay sounded a slightly more conciliatory note, saying Khadr’s public declaration the previous day that he had renounced violence was a good first step after his release from prison.
But MacKay, speaking at an event in Halifax, said people shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that Khadr was involved in terrorism.
He said Canadians should look ahead with cautious optimism when it comes to individuals who have past proven tendencies that resulted in the loss of human life.
The federal government made a last-ditch attempt to stay a decision on bail for Khadr, which was dismissed Thursday.
After Khadr’s release, a spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney said the minister regretted that a convicted terrorist had been released without having served his full sentence.
Khadr walked free after an Alberta judge rejected a last-ditch attempt by the federal government to block his release.
Appeal Court Justice Myra Bielby said the government had failed to prove his release would cause serious harm to Canadian interests or pose a risk to the public.
The government expressed disappointment.
His release came with a list of restrictions including wearing a tracking bracelet and a curfew.