Gitmo Lawyer: U.S. Agents Seized Notes
A Canadian attorney representing an accused enemy combatant held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison says he was harassed and had his legal notes reviewed on Saturday by U.S. authorities.
On his way home after meeting with his client, Omar Khadr, 20, Dennis Edney was singled out by U.S. customs agents who insisted on looking at his written notes and client-related material on a laptop computer, he tells the Star, a Toronto newspaper.
“I’m indignant because it’s an invasion on my solicitor-client privilege,” Edney says. “It wasn’t a random search of some guy who you’re thinking is going to be bringing in drugs. This was a direct search into all matters pertaining to my client. That’s a violation. That’s harassment.”
A Pentagon spokesman said he would look into the allegations. The Star could not reach the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency for comment .
Khadr, who was captured at age 15 in Afghanistan after fighting in a Taliban stronghold has been held at Gitmo since 2002. He was originally charged in a terrorism case, but a U.S. military tribunal recently ruled the case had not been properly filed, as discussed in an earlier ABAJournal.com post.
Khadr is now awaiting further developments, as the Pentagon appeals the military tribunal’s dismissal of the case, CanWest News Service reports.
