Omar Khadr appeals ruling that denied his transfer from federal prison to jail

EDMONTON – Former Guantanamo Bay inmate Omar Khadr is appealing a ruling that denied his request to be transferred from a maximum-security federal prison in Edmonton to a provincial jail.

Justice John Rooke of Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench dismissed the 27-year-old’s transfer application last month.

Dennis Edney, Khadr’s lawyer, says the appeal is based on the judge’s interpretation of a section of the International Transfer of Offenders Act.

Edney says Khadr should be treated as a young offender and that serving his time in a provincial jail would give him access to programs he needs to get parole.

Toronto-born Khadr was sentenced to eight years after pleading guilty to war crime offences, including murder, for killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan when Khadr was 15.

Edney says he has requested an expedited hearing, but that would require consent from the federal government, which welcomed Rooke’s ruling.