Ahmed Khadr: Difference between revisions
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'''Ahmed Said Khadr''' ([[1945]]- [[2 October]] [[2003]]) (أحمد سعيد خضر) was an [[Egypt|Egyptian]]-[[Canada|Canadian]] lecturer of computer engeneering related topics working abroad in Gulf Polytechnique University in Bahrain, who changed careers in 1985 to a |
'''Ahmed Said Khadr''' ([[1945]]- [[2 October]] [[2003]]) (أحمد سعيد خضر) was an [[Egypt|Egyptian]]-[[Canada|Canadian]] lecturer of computer engeneering related topics working abroad in Gulf Polytechnique University in Bahrain, who changed careers in 1985 to become a humanitarian worker who ran many NGO's in Pakistan and Afghanistan. |
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==Khadr family== |
==Khadr family== |
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Human Concern International has done its best to isolate its name from Khadr after hiring a lawyer to audit all of their financial records, and having found no discrepancies, insist that he never subverted any of their resources. Khadr is widely believed to have subverted funds donated to Health and Education Project International to fund terrorist activities. |
Human Concern International has done its best to isolate its name from Khadr after hiring a lawyer to audit all of their financial records, and having found no discrepancies, insist that he never subverted any of their resources. Khadr is widely believed to have subverted funds donated to Health and Education Project International to fund terrorist activities. |
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Health and Education Project was |
Health and Education Project was an NGO that founded several orphanages and schools for both boys and girls. It also worked with the UNWFP (United Nations World Food Programme) 'Work For Food' programs for widows which established the trade of cottage industry for staples such as flour, oil, rice, etc. HEP also provided formula, beds, medicines, etc. for local hospitals throughout Afghanistan through a program supported and sponsered by UNWHO (United Nations World Health Organization). |
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Khadr was killed in [[South Waziristan]] on [[2 October]] 2003. His son Abdul Karim, then 14, was paralyzed in the same incident. |
Khadr was killed in [[South Waziristan]] on [[2 October]] 2003. His son Abdul Karim, then 14, was paralyzed in the same incident. |
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Revision as of 21:35, 5 August 2007
Ahmed Said Khadr (1945- 2 October 2003) (أحمد سعيد خضر) was an Egyptian-Canadian lecturer of computer engeneering related topics working abroad in Gulf Polytechnique University in Bahrain, who changed careers in 1985 to become a humanitarian worker who ran many NGO's in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Khadr family
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Khadr immigrated to Canada from Egypt in 1977. He and his wife Maha Elsamnah, who he met after his arrival, had six children, among which are four sons, Abdullah, Abdurahman, Omar, and Abdul Karim; and two daughters, Zaynab and a younger daughter who is still a minor.
In 1983, inspired by the jihad declared by Muslim scholars against the Soviet Union in response to the invasion of Afghanistan, Khadr travelled there. His young family joined him there shortly afterwards.
In 1985 Khadr started working in Peshawar as volunteer co-ordinator for the charity Human Concern International.[1]
In 1992 Khadr was injured by a land mine, and returned to Canada for over a year of recuperation.
Khadr's name became widely known in Canada in 1995, when he was arrested by the Pakistani government for an alleged role in a terrorist bombing of the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad in 1995. He launched a hunger strike and was interviewed in hospital, proclaiming he was innocent and that his work consisted solely of charitable work to provide food and schooling to Afghan orphans.
As Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien happened to then be visiting Pakistan, he mentioned the matter to Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who promised "fair trial and fair treatment". Later the case was dropped due to lack of evidence.
Human Concerns International cut its ties to Khadr after his arrest by Pakistani Security officials.
Khadr then founded his own charity, Health and Education Project International.[1]
Human Concern International has done its best to isolate its name from Khadr after hiring a lawyer to audit all of their financial records, and having found no discrepancies, insist that he never subverted any of their resources. Khadr is widely believed to have subverted funds donated to Health and Education Project International to fund terrorist activities.
Health and Education Project was an NGO that founded several orphanages and schools for both boys and girls. It also worked with the UNWFP (United Nations World Food Programme) 'Work For Food' programs for widows which established the trade of cottage industry for staples such as flour, oil, rice, etc. HEP also provided formula, beds, medicines, etc. for local hospitals throughout Afghanistan through a program supported and sponsered by UNWHO (United Nations World Health Organization).
Khadr was killed in South Waziristan on 2 October 2003. His son Abdul Karim, then 14, was paralyzed in the same incident.
Another son, Abdurahman Khadr, was held at Guantanamo Bay and later released.[2] He revealed that he had actually been working for the American Central Intelligence Agency as a mole in the prison.[3]
Fifteen year old Omar Khadr was captured, during a skirmish, on July 27, 2002. Khadr is alleged to have mortally wounded Sergeant Christopher J. Speer. Sergeant Speer's widow Tabitha Speer, and Sergeant Layne Morris, a GI who lost an eye in that firefight launched a civil suit against Ahmed Khadr's estate. Normally one can't sue for damages that were the result of an act of war in US courts. They argued that Omar's resistance was not an act of war, it was an act of terrorism. Further, they argued, Omar was still a minor, so the responsibility for Omar's military training, and willingness to die, lay with his parents. A Utah court awarded Speer and Morris $11 million.
Omar was charged with murder and attempted murder on November 8, 2005.[4] If the US Supreme Court rules that President George W. Bush does have the constitutional authority, Khadr will be tried before a military commission in Guantanamo.
Khadr and the RCMP's project "AO Canada"
On December 7 2006 it was acknowledged that Khadr's inlaws' property was raided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in January 2002.[5] Khadr's secret search warrant was issued on January 22 2002, as part of project AO Canada. Abdullah Amalki, Nazih Amalki, and Ahmad El Maati also had search warrants issued against them. The identity of three of the other seven individuals remains secret.
Dennis Edney, one of the Khadr family's lawyers, responded to the news:[5]
- "I'd be really interested in obtaining one piece of evidence that would show indeed that Mr. Khadr was actually a terrorist. To me, it's just folklore."
Assets frozen, estate sued
The United States Treasury froze Khadr's assets. Sergeant Layne Morris a soldier who was injured during the skirmish where Omar Khadr was captured, and Tabitha Speer, the widow of Christopher J. Speer, a soldier who was mortally wounded during that skirmish, sued Khadr's estate.[6] His argument is that since Omar Khadr was only fourteen, he couldn't be held responsible for his actions -- but his father could.
An article published in the June 14 2007 Salt Lake Tribune said that Morris and Speer's widow might collect funds via the U.S. Terrorism Risk Insurance Act.[7] The article quotes a Treasury Department official who acknowledged that Ahmed Khadr's assets had been frozen, but said it was up to Morris and Speer to locate them. The article said that Senator Orrin Hatch had been asked to intervene, and that he was "very interested".
Quotes about Khadr
- "We believe dying by the hand of your enemy because you believe in… you're doing it in the way of Allah, that it's the best way to die. My father had always wished that he would be killed… he would be killed for the sake of Allah. I remember when we were very young he would say, if you guys love me, pray for me that I get shahadah, which is killed." -- Khadr's daughter Zaynab, on her father[8]
See also
References
- ^ a b National Post Apologizes to Human Concern International, South Asia Partnership Canada, April 26 2004
- ^ Khadr thankful to be back in Canada, CBC, December 1 2005
- ^ Son of al Qaeda, Frontline (PBS)
- ^ U.S. charges Omar Khadr with murder, National Post, November 8 2005
- ^ a b
Kate Jaimet (December 8 2006). "RCMP 9/11 dragnet targeted eldest Khadr: Patriarch identified as one of seven searched by police after attacks".
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Unknown parameter|dateaccessed=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|pub=ignored (|publisher=suggested) (help) - ^ GI injured in Afghan war wins lawsuit: Unique case: Court awards default judgment to man blinded in one eye, Salt Lake Tribune, February 16 2006
- ^
Dawn House (June 14 2007). "Judge clears way for wounded soldier to collect judgement against terrorist". Salt Lake Tribune.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Check date values in:|date=(help); Text "urlhttp://www.sltrib.com/ci_6140530" ignored (help) - ^ Son of al Qaeda: Intro, Frontline (PBS)