Abdullah Khadr released as extradition request denied

TORONTO – A request by the U.S. to extradite Abdullah Khadr on terrorism-related charges was denied by an Ontario Superior Court justice Wednesday.

Khadr, 28, was immediately released following the decision. He had spent nearly five years at the Toronto’s West Detention Centre fighting the extradition.

The U.S. case against Khadr was based on a number of statements he made to the FBI and RCMP while he was tortured and detained in Pakistan in 2005.

His Edmonton-based lawyers, Nathan Whitling and Dennis Edney, said Canada would be supporting these interrogation methods if it granted the extradition request. They also argued that the information was given under extreme distress.

This decision comes days before Khadr’s younger brother, Omar, begins his trial in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Their father was Ahmed Said Khadr, an alleged al-Qaida supporter, who was killed in Pakistan in 2003.