EDMONTON, Alberta, April 24 (UPI) -- Former Guantanamo inmate Omar Khadr was granted bail in a Canadian court Friday, after 12 years of imprisonment. Alberta Justice June Ross' decision paves the way for a hearing May 5 in which Khadr's conditions of release will be decided.
Khadr, 27, a Canadian citizen, was captured by U.S. military forces in 2002 during a firefight in Afghanistan in which a U.S. soldier, Christopher Speer, was killed. Then age 15, he was charged with five offenses under the Military Commissions Act, which was written after Khadr's alleged crimes, convicted and sent to the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. His lawyer in the United States is arguing he should not have been retroactively prosecuted for a war crime.