US widow to sue for $10.5M from Canadian child soldier

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON Ont.

The lawyer the widow of a U.S. soldier killed in Afghanistan by Omar Khadr Canadian will file an emergency application as early as Wednesday to prevent the Canadian government from paying CAN$10.5 million to Khadr, according to media reported.

The application, if granted, would see the money from the Canadian government go to the widow and wounded soldier, rather than Khadr.

“We will be proceeding with that application and trying to make sure that if he gets it goes to the widow of Sgt. [Christopher] Speer and Layne Morris for the loss of an eye,” Tabitha Speer’s lawyer Don Winder told The Associated Press.

Winder filed for a domestic judgment – the right to enforce a foreign lawsuit in Canada as decided by a federal judge – a few weeks ago but the case has not yet been heard.

It is expected to be announced soon that the government will issue an apology and pay the Canadian-born between $10 million and $10.5 million because his rights were violated during interrogation by Canadian officials. Terms of the deal have not yet been made public.

Khadr was 15 – in effect a child soldier – when he is alleged to have thrown a grenade in 2002 that killed Speer and blinded Sgt. Morris in one eye.

Khadr was captured by U.S. troops at a suspected al-Qaida compound in Afghanistan and he was imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay.

He pleaded guilty in 2010 to various charges, including murder, and was sentenced by a U.S. military commission to eight years in addition to the time already spent in custody.

He was sent to Canada in 2012 to serve the remainder of his sentence and released in 2015. Khadr sued the Canadian government and won a wrongful imprisonment lawsuit.

In 2014, Speer’s widow, and Morris won a $134 million suit when a U.S. court ruled Khadr was responsible for the death and injuries.

They have acknowledged they may never see that judgment because Khadr lives in Canada, outside of the court’s jurisdiction.