Widow, injured soldier's court filing seeks money federal government is expected to give Khadr

The lawyer for the widow of a U.S. soldier killed in Afghanistan said Tuesday they have filed an application so that any money paid by the Canadian government to the former Guantanamo Bay prisoner will go toward the widow and another U.S. soldier injured.

Lawyer Don Winder made the comments as a decision by the Canadian government to apologize and give millions of dollars to Omar Khadr came under mounting criticism.

An official familiar with the deal said Khadr will receive $10.5 million. The official was not authorized to discuss the deal publicly before the announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity. The government and Khadr's lawyers negotiated the deal last month.

• Ottawa to pay $10.5M to Omar Khadr, government source says
• Why will Khadr receive $10.5M? Because his rights were violated
• Khadr lawsuit settlement riles some conservatives in Alberta

The Canadian-born Khadr was 15 when he was captured by U.S. troops following a firefight at a suspected al-Qaida compound in Afghanistan that resulted in the death of a U.S. special forces medic, Sgt. First Class Christopher Speer and the injury of Sgt. Layne Morris, who lost an eye.

Khadr, who was suspected of throwing the grenade that killed Speer, was taken to Guantanamo and ultimately charged with war crimes by a military commission.

He pleaded guilty in 2010 to charges that included murder and was sentenced to eight years plus the time he had already spent in custody. He returned to Canada two years later to serve the remainder of his sentence and was released in May 2015 pending an appeal of his guilty plea, which he said was made under duress.

The widow of Speer and Morris filed a wrongful death and injury lawsuit against Khadr in 2014 fearing he might get his hands on money from his $20 million wrongful imprisonment lawsuit. A U.S. judge granted $134.2 million in damages in 2015.

'Oppressive circumstances'

Winder, a Salt Lake City-based attorney for Speer and Morris, said they filed an application a few weeks ago in Canada to make that judgement enforceable in Canada. It has yet to be heard.

"We will be proceeding with that application and trying to make sure that if he gets money it goes to the widow of Sgt. Speer and Layne Morris for the loss of an eye," Winder told The Associated Press.

Winder said they thought it was likely there might be some payment "for his wrongful internment in Guantanamo."

Khadr's lawyers filed a $20 million wrongful imprisonment lawsuit against the Canadian government, arguing the government violated international law by not protecting its own citizen and conspired with the U.S. in its abuse of Khadr. Khadr spent 10 years in Guantanamo Bay. His case received international attention after some dubbed him a child soldier.

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 2010 that Canadian intelligence officials obtained evidence from Khadr under "oppressive circumstances," such as sleep deprivation, during interrogations at Guantanamo Bay in 2003, and then shared that evidence with U.S officials.

Opposing views on compensation

Khadr was the youngest and last Western detainee held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The news of the government giving millions to someone who pleaded guilty to killing a U.S. soldier has not gone over well among conservatives in Canada.

"Odious. Confessed terrorist who assembled & planted the same kind of IEDs (improvised explosive devices) that killed 97 Canadians to be given $10-million," former Conservative cabinet minister Jason Kenney tweeted adding that Khadr should be in prison paying for his crimes, not profiting from them at the expense of Canadian taxpayers.

Conservative MP Tony Clement urged Khadr to give any settlement money to the widow and children of the U.S. soldier he was accused of killing in Afghanistan. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation started an online petition aimed at Trudeau, deploring the deal.

But former Liberal MP Bob Rae tweeted that compensation was "long overdue."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declined to confirm the apology and money when asked about in Ireland on Tuesday but didn't deny it. "There is a judicial process underway that has been underway for a number of years now and we are anticipating, like I think a number of people are, that that judicial process is coming to its conclusion," Trudeau said.

Scott Bardsley, a spokesman for Canada's public safety minister, also confirmed there is an ongoing court process in the case.

"Settlement processes are always strictly confidential by nature. Accordingly, the government is not in a position to provide any comment one way or another," Bardsley said in an email.

Khadr's lawyers have long said he was pushed into war by his father, Ahmed Said Khadr, whose family stayed with Osama bin Laden briefly when Omar Khadr was a boy. Khadr's Egyptian-born father was killed in 2003 when a Pakistani military helicopter shelled the house where he was staying with senior al-Qaida operatives.

After his 2015 release from prison in Alberta, Omar Khadr apologized to the families of the victims. He said he rejects violent jihad and wants a fresh start to finish his education and work in health care. He currently resides in an apartment in Edmonton, Alberta.