Khadr protests physical search, boycotts hearings again

U.S. NAVAL BASE GUANTANAMO, Cuba – Omar Khadr raised a new objection to a security procedure Friday as he refused to attend his war crimes court hearing – this one distinct from the health-related problems his lawyers have said explain his absence on Thursday.

The Canadian-born terror suspect says a "waistband" search – a check of the waist band of his tunic to make sure there is nothing hidden underneath – that is routinely conducted before transporting detainees to court had become more intense, and offended his religion.

Khadr’s defence lawyers have already called on the military judge, Army Col. Patrick Parrish, to hold a special hearing into a range of medical complaints Khadr has expressed.

Barry Coburn, Khadr’s chief U.S. lawyer, said Thursday Khadr is suffering severe pain amid high blood pressure that is aggravating his injuries.

"You can’t have a fair trial unless the defendant can participate actively," Coburn said.

Both Khadr’s eyes are afflicted with conjunctivitis, which is commonly known as pink eye, Coburn said. But he explained that what would typically provoke simple irritation in most people is compounded for Khadr, whose eyes suffered shrapnel wounds in the 2002 firefight in Afghanistan that led to his capture.

"There should be a substantial attempt made in order to alleviate the pain," Coburn said. "There may be all kinds of things that could be attempted in terms of medicating him."

But U.S. army Col. Patrick Parrish, the military judge in the case, was unconvinced during the hearing that Khadr’s health condition played any role in his absence from the morning session.

He made the declaration after a member of the guard force testified Khadr had not turned up because he’d refused to don the goggles and earmuffs detainees are obliged to wear when being transported beyond their detention camps.

"This court is not going to (get) involved with allowing a detainee to set the conditions for how he is transported," Parrish said. "That is not going to happen."

Parrish signalled the guard force had the right to impose any reasonable security measures.

Court heard early Thursday that Khadr had begun the day complaining of pain in his left eye, in which he is blind because of the battlefield injuries.

U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Laura Bruzzese said she arranged to take him to hospital, where he received painkilling eye-drops before being released.

Khadr had proceeded to the point of getting into the van for the trip to court, but then refused to put on the goggles and earmuffs, pointing out the rear of the vehicle was windowless and, therefore, prevented him from seeing anything anyway, Bruzzese told the court.

"The only reason (for our having to) put it on is to humiliate us," she quoted Khadr as saying about the goggles.

She said she subsequently checked with hospital officials that there was no medical reason why Khadr could not wear the goggles.

The drama marked the latest upheaval in Khadr’s long-running prosecution, in which he faces five war crimes charges, including murder in the fatal wounding of a U.S. soldier during the 2002 firefight.

It interrupted the flow of prosecution witnesses testifying at more than a week of hearings called to resolve defence claims that self-incriminating statements Khadr has made to interrogators were coerced.

The judge’s ruling that Khadr’s morning absence was voluntary meant that proceedings could go on without him.

But they were postponed until the afternoon anyway because the microphones abruptly stopped working.

Khadr’s defence team convinced him to turn up to the afternoon session – which he did after agreeing to meet the security requirements.

"From what I could see, the entire left side of his face was just beet red," Coburn said. "When he got into court he sat down, and it appeared to me that he started crying."

Stephen Xenakis, a psychiatrist working with the defence, told reporters he examined Khadr Thursday, and found his condition to include high blood pressure.

"With his history of having the head wounds that he did, shrapnel still in his eyes, the clouding of the lens, a history of surgery – this is a condition that becomes urgent," Xenakis said.

Through Coburn, Khadr said he had never been obliged to wear the security accessories in the interior of the van before his return trip from court Wednesday.

Khadr was Thursday night being examined by a military doctor and optometrist, who would speak by phone with an ophthalmologist since one was not available at the base, said Navy Cmdr. Bradley Fagan, chief spokesman for the Joint Task Force that operates the detention camps.

But he contested Khadr’s claim the goggles and earmuff measure began only Wednesday for the detainee.

According to Fagan, the measure is Standard Operating Procedure aimed at minimizing the ability of a detainee to strike a guard.

As such, Khadr has worn the security accessories numerous times both inside and outside the transport vans, Fagan said.

Beyond Guantanamo Thursday, Dennis Edney, one of Khadr’s Canadian lawyers, went public from Toronto with terms of a plea deal he says the prosecution had made to the defence team. According to Edney, the deal would involve Khadr serving a five-year sentence in a maximum-security prison in the United States in addition to the eight he has already spent in U.S. custody since his 2002 capture at age 15.

But Coburn has said the prosecution has offered "no firm" deal. He has also said his "understanding" is that prosecutors have invariably insisted any agreement would include a requirement for Khadr to admit in open court that he threw the hand grenade that killed the U.S. soldier, Sgt. Chris Speer, during the 2002 firefight.