GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- A military jury at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Sunday issued a 40-year prison term to a young al-Qaida insurgent for killing a U.S. soldier.
The sentence was even more than the 25 years prosecutors had sought for Omar Khadr but it is largely symbolic because the jury was unaware a Pentagon official has struck a deal with Khadr's lawyer that could allow the Canadian national to be held one more year at Guantanamo and then be returned to Canada to serve out the balance of an eight-year sentence, The Miami Herald reported.
While Khadr looked straight ahead while the sentence was announced, the widow of his victim, Tabitha Speer, 40, shouted "yes" and then cried, the Herald said.
Khadr, now 24, was arrested after a firefight in Afghanistan when he was 15, and pleaded guilty Monday to killing Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer, 28, with a grenade and four other war crimes charges.
The seven-member military jury of senior officers deliberated about 7 hours before reaching its decision. The presiding judge then disclosed the plea deal.
While Khadr expressed remorse last week for his actions, prosecutor and former Marine Maj. Jeffrey Groharing urged the jury to sentence him to 25 years and send Khadr the message: "Your jihad is over,'' the Herald reported.
Khadr's defense attorney, Army Lt. Col. Jon Jackson, told the jury Khadr was indoctrinated with al-Qaida rhetoric since he was a child.
"He's never had a first chance,'' Jackson said. "Send him back to Canada. Let him start his education, let him start his career. There's going to be no good in letting him stay here. Send him home.''
