Concerns about Sufficiency of Medical Treatment Mar Military Commission Proceedings

Today’s hearing in the military commission case of Omar Khadr was once again fraught with confusion, complication and delay. This time the problem appeared to be the military judge’s refusal to question military procedure – even when it might be causing significant harm to the defendant.

Omar Khadr, the Canadian detainee seized and imprisoned by US authorities in Afghanistan when he was 15 years old, has consistently cooperated with the military commission and followed its rules and procedures. When he sat in the courtroom yesterday, for example, he was leaning forward attentively, apparently following every word as the lawyers argued over the admissibility of evidence and an FBI agent took the stand to testify against him. He made no sign of being uncooperative, and observers at his previous hearings say that’s consistent with how he’s always behaved in hearings. But something was different today.

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