Lawyers from around the world have called on American and Canadian leaders to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and release a Canadian detainee who was captured as a teenager. “By calling for the closure of Guantanamo, we do not detract from the horror of acts of terrorism in the U.S. or other countries,” said the letter, which was signed by 34 bar association leaders from around the world. “Few governmental operations by democratic countries have shown such a profound disrespect for the rule of law,” the letter said. “Guantanamo Bay has come to signify injustice for some at the hands of the powerful.” In particular, the letter called for the repatriation of Canadian citizen Omar Khadr, who currently faces war crimes charges. The trial against Khadr, who was 15 when he was captured in 2001, is scheduled to begin in May. “For five years, Omar Khadr, a ‘child' under the terms of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, has languished without trial in Guantanamo,” said the letter, which was addressed to U.S. President George W. Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. “There is reason to believe he has been subjected to treatment that is at best degrading and abusive and at worst amounts to torture,” the letter said. The letter called for Khadr to be returned to Canada to “face due process under Canadian law and the principles of the rule of law.” The letter was signed by lawyers' associations in Australia, Britain, France, Finland, South Africa, Ireland, Scotland, Luxembourg, Turkey, Iraq and Romania, among other countries.
