The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday agreed to hear a federal government appeal related to former Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr’s youth status.
The case deals with a lower court ruling that held that Khadr, now 28, should be deemed to be serving a youth sentence.
Khadr, whose eyesight is failing, had already agreed to remain in a federal prison even though Alberta’s top court ruled unanimously in July he should be deemed a young offender and moved to a provincial facility.
In a 2010 plea bargain, the Toronto-born Khadr pleaded guilty to five war-crimes charges, including murder, for killing an American soldier in Afghanistan when he was 15.
He has since repudiated his guilty plea, saying it was the only way to get out of Guantanamo.
Unlike civilian courts, a military commission accepts evidence obtained under torture.
After spending 10 years in Guantanamo, Khadr was sentenced by a US military commission to an additional eight years and sent to Canada.
Ottawa maintains that punishment made him an adult under Canadian law.
The Alberta Court of Appeal in July rejected that interpretation. However, it stayed the effect of its ruling pending the Supreme Court’s decision on hearing an appeal.
For now, Khadr remains classified in an adult at the Bowden Institution in Innisfail, Alberta.
As the judicial process plays out, Khadr’s eyesight is failing badly.
He lost sight in one eye in Afghanistan in 2002 during a battle with US soldiers.
This fall an examination confirmed failing sight in the second eye, also the result of wounds suffered in that battle.
Doctors say surgery can restore sight in that eye, but if Khadr is to avoid permanent damage, the surgery must take place soon.
Khadr, who has expressed the desire to eventually go to medical school, has completed about half his high school degree but can barely see words out of his one eye and has stopped reading.
He has served about half of his eight-year sentence and is eligible for a parole hearing in June.
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