Carol Rosenberg, recently freed from her arbitrary banning at Gitmo, posts this picture of a statement Omar Khadr read aloud in court today explaining why he wants to boycott any further proceedings. [my transcription; I’ve added punctuation but not changed spelling]:
Your honor, I’m boycotting this military commission because:
- Firstly, the unfairness and unjustice of it. I say this because not one of the lawyers I’ve had, or human right organization or any person say that the commission is fair, or looking for justice, but on the contrary they say it is unfair and unjust and that it has been constructed solely to convict detainees and not to find the truth (so how can I ask for justice from a process that does not have it or offer it?) [new color ink–apparently added later] and to accomplish political and public goal and what I mean is when I was offered a plea bargain it was up to 30 years which I was going to spend only 5 years so I asked why the 30 years? I was told it make the US government look good in the public eyes and other political causes.
- Secondly, the unfairness of the rules that will make a person so depressed that he will admit to alligations or take a plea offer that will satisfy the US government and get him the least sentence possible and ligitimize the show process. Therefore I will not willingly let the US gov use me to fullfil its goal. I have been used to many times when I was a child and that’s why I’m here taking blame and paying for thing I didn’t have a choice in doing but was told to do by elders.
- Lastly I will not take any plea offer or [several words redacted] because it will give excuse for the gov for torturing and abusing me when I was a child.
In some of her tweets, Rosenberg said the judge has proposed reconvening on the suppression hearing August 9 and moving forward with the trial in October.
Update: Corrected post to note that Khadr read this aloud. Also note Rosenberg’s latest:
Guantanamo prosecutor: Omar Khadr is trying to mock the war court. Judge notes the Canadian did try to fire his lawyers this time last year
God forbid anyone mock our kangaroo court. Follow Rosenberg on twitter yourself here.
Update: Here’s Rosenberg’s article on today’s hearing.