U.S. renews Canadian's terror charges

WASHINGTON, April 25 (UPI) -- The Pentagon renewed its formal charges of terror-related murder against the only Canadian held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The original charges against Omar Khadr, 20, were quashed last year when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the detentions and prosecution of terror suspects were illegal, but Khadr was charged under a new system, Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper reported.

Khadr was arrested in Afghanistan when he was 15 and charged with throwing a grenade that killed a U.S. Army sergeant.

He faces charges of murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, spying and providing material support for terrorism.

Pentagon spokesman U.S. Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon said the changes are in line with the statute on military commissions passed by Congress in 2006.

Khadr's U.S. lawyer, Muneer Ahmad, claims the United States "will be the first country in modern history to try an individual who was a child at the time of the alleged war crimes," but Gordon said age was not a determining factor.

"The fact that youths have been used as enemy combatants is an unfortunate reality in many parts of the world," Gordon said. "How old do you have to be to kill?"