Omar Khadr, the last westerner left in Guantanamo Bay and the facility's youngest inmate ever, was shipped back to his home country, Canada, early Saturday morning.
Khadr (illustrated above) has been serving time at Guantanamo since 2002. He plead guilty to all five charges he was accused of, including murder in violation of the law of war, and was sentenced to eight years in prison as part of a plea agreement. He was captured by U.S. troops and accused of murdering an American soldier in a firefight when he was 15 years old. As part of his 2010 plea agreement, he was to serve one year at Guantanamo and the rest in a Canadian prison. Khadr's repatriation was approved last year, but Khadr wasn't moved. Canada's government actually came under fire for not getting him home sooner. "Omar Khadr was born in Canada and is a Canadian citizen. As a Canadian citizen, he has a right to enter Canada after the completion of his sentence," Canadian Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said after explaining why he took the extra year to request his return. He cited concerns over Khadr's terrorist training he received in Afghanistan, his reverence for his father who was a close associate of Osama bin Laden, and the effect of years in Guantanamo would have on his young mind. Khadr is a 26-year-old now. The quest for Khadr's return to his home country has been a huge story north of the border.
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