Video: Omar Khadr Speaks, Says, “Freedom Is Way Better Than I Thought”

Last night, as Britain collapsed into five more years of Tory rule, from the party that believes only in enriching the already rich, privatising everything that hasn’t yet been privatised, and permanently abusing the poor, the unemployed and the disabled, one of the only glimmers of light was not in the UK, but was in Canada, on a suburban street where former Guantánamo prisoner Omar Khadr was holding his first press conference since being released from prison.

Now 28, Omar was held for twelve years and ten months — ten years and two months in US custody (almost all in Guantánamo), and two years and eight months in Canadian prisons. This was in spite of the fact that he was just 15 years old when he was seized after a firefight in Afghanistan, where he had been taken by his father, and was therefore a juvenile, and not responsible for his actions.

Abused by the Americans, Omar also had his rights ignored by Canadian agents who visited him at Guantánamo, and who destroyed his hopes that his home country would help him. He then had to plead guilty at a disgraceful war crimes trial, in the military commissions at Guantánamo, to secure his release from the prison, receiving an eight-year sentence, with one more year to be served at Guantánamo, and the rest in Canada.

It took almost two years for the Harper government to get him back, and he was then imprisoned in a maximum-security prison, and demonized by the government, even though he has always been a model prisoner. He was finally moved to a medium-security facility in February 2014, and on May 7 this year, in the appeals court in Edmonton, Justice Myra Bielby granted him bail, following his application in March, after a judge’s ruling accepting his application two weeks ago, and the government’s shameful, last-ditch appeal.

Omar walked free yesterday, and, under his bail conditions, moved in with Dennis Edney, who has been his lawyer since 2004. And last night (UK time), as the first hints were dropped that Britain was entrenching itself as a country dominated by a cruel right-wing ideology, Omar spoke to the media, in a nearly six-minute interview in which he was radiantly happy at being free, and was gracious and articulate in a manner that, genuinely, is rarely seen or heard in public.

The video is below, and I hope you watch it and share it if, like me, you find Omar to be an extremely sympathetic young man.

One of the most significant things that Omar said was, “Freedom is way better than I thought,” adding, “And the Canadian public, so far, has been way better than I anticipated.”

He also said, “I would like to thank the Canadian public for trusting me, and giving me a chance. I will prove to them that I’m more than what they thought of me. I’ll prove to them that I’m a good person.”

When he was asked “what he would say to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, whose government worked for years to keep him from being transferred to Canada, then to keep him behind bars,” as CBC News put it, he said, simply and powerfully, “I’m going to have to disappoint him. I’m better than the person he thinks I am.”

He also “apologized for his actions as a teenager and offered advice to young people who might consider joining jihad against the West,” as CBC News described it.

“Don’t let emotions control you,” he said. “I’ve noticed that a lot of people are manipulated by not being educated.”

He also spoke about his remorse for anyone he had harmed — if the grenade he threw in 2002 did kill US Sgt. Christopher Speer, something that is far from certain. “I can just say that I’m sorry for the pain that I might [have] caused the families of the victims,” he said. “There is nothing I can do about the past but … I can do something about the future.”

He also spoke about his plans for the future, saying that he hopes, one day, to work in healthcare. “I’ve experienced pain, so I think I can empathize with people who are going through that,” he said.

He also spoke of his plans for furthering his education, following on from the extensive education he has undertaken since a Canadian professor, Arlette Zinck, began corresponding with him at Guantánamo. “I have a lot of learning to do,” he said. “A lot of basic skills I need to learn. I’m excited to start my life. I can’t change the past. All I can do is work on the present and the future.”

Before the interview, as CBC News put it, the reporters who gathered to watch the press conference received “a stern warning to be respectful” from Dennis Edney, who said, “I’ve had a long day. And I don’t mind going back into that house. Omar is going to say a few words. You can also ask him certain questions. But if the questions become too intrusive, then I’ll shut it down. This is Omar’s first time out in society since the age of 15.”

Omar also thanked Dennis in a witty exchange at the end of the interview. “I really appreciate him working for that last 11 years,” he said, adding, “I’m surprised he’s not sick of me yet.”Edney replied, “Wait till you get your bill,” and both men then shared a laugh.

After Omar returned to Edney’s home yesterday, his lawyer stayed behind to speak about his work, and his time with Omar. “It’s the start of that journey that I decided to do a long time ago, when I walked out of Guantanamo for the first time,” he said, adding, “I would like to restore him back to whole. And be able to allow him to participate in the Canadian community.”

He also explained that he will soon be arguing “aspects of the Khadr case before the Supreme Court of Canada,” and in June “will be back before a US court for the appeal of the original war crimes convictions” — the trigger for the bail Omar has just been granted.

“In many ways the fights continue,” Edney said. “It’s cost millions. And we’ve spent that. Both in terms of cash, and in terms of lost hours. And every lawyer and every judge, they all pat me on the back and say, good stuff.”

Asked again about this relationship with Omar, Edney said, “I think he’s worth every effort. I met him in a cold, empty cell. And I saw a broken bird, chained to a floor. So we journeyed together. We have, in some ways, both grown up together. I’m proud of who he is. He’s gone through hell.”

Hearing about Dennis Edney’s love for Omar, it’s hard for it not to bring tears to one’s eyes — and that, surely, is appropriate as this young man’s much-delayed freedom finally resumes after nearly 13 years in which two countries who claim to have a respect for the rule of law have treated him with absolutely disgraceful contempt and cruelty. I wish him all the best, and have no hesitation in stating that I think he will rise to the occasion, and the opportunities presented to him.

Andy Worthington is a freelance investigative journalist, activist, author, photographer, film-maker and singer-songwriter (the lead singer and main songwriter for the London-based band The Four Fathers). He is the co-founder of the “Close Guantánamo” campaign, the co-director of “We Stand With Shaker,” calling for the immediate release from Guantánamo of Shaker Aamer, the last British resident in the prison, and the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison (published by Pluto Press, distributed by the University of Chicago Press in the US, and available from Amazon, including a Kindle edition — click on the following for the US and the UK) and of two other books: Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion and The Battle of the Beanfield. He is also the co-director (with Polly Nash) of the documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (available on DVD here — or here for the US).

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