Military tribunals resume at Guantanamo

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- The U.S. military commission system has resumed operations with the arraignment of the only Canadian detainee held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Omar Ahmed Khadr, now 21, was only 16 years old when he was detained in 2002 on charges of killing a U.S. soldier with a grenade in Afghanistan, spying, and material support for terrorism.

Khadr's two-hour arraignment Thursday was the first since all Guantanamo terrorism cases were stalled by legal rulings in June that were later overturned, the New York Times reported Friday

The proceeding began on a controversial note with military defense lawyers complaining that they learned only the night before of a government witness who might be able to help their client counter the war crime charges.

"How can we have newly discovered evidence is beyond me," said Michael Berrigan, deputy chief military defense lawyer for Guantanamo cases.

Khadr's case has drawn particular attention because of his age at the time of detention and also because his family in Toronto has deep ties to al-Qaida, the newspaper said.