Protestors demand for Omar Khadr's repatriation in front of Stephen Harper's house, dressed as a Guantanamo detainee. Photo: Ehab Lotayef.

Canada’s Supreme Court will hear an appeal from the Canadian government of a lower court order to ask the United States to repatriate Canadian national Omar Khadr. Khadr is the only remaining citizen of a Western country detained at the infamous U.S. detention and torture centre, Guantanamo Bay. He was captured in 2002 in Afghanistan, when he was 15 years old, and declared a ‘child combatant’.

Last month, Canadian federal judge James O’Reilly agreed with Khadr’s lawyers that the government’s refusal to demand repatriation violates their client’s constitutional rights. Stephen Harper has refused to ask for repatriation of Khadr, saying the US legal process must take place, according to CTV and Al-Jazeera.

The three Canadian opposition parties, who make up the majority in the House of Commons, have called for Khadr’s repatriation. The Guantanamo detention centre has been the centre of much controversy about their methods of interrogation such as beatings, sensory deprivation, sleep deprivation, and water boarding.

Last month, U.S. political prisoner Leonard Peltier was denied parole. Peltier has been imprisoned for 32 years, and is serving two life sentences for the deaths of FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams during a 1975 standoff on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He was convicted in 1977.

Amnesty International has called for the “immediate release” of Peltier, citing “concerns about the fairness” of his conviction. Peltier has denied he shot the two men and says he was framed by the FBI.

Amnesty International has stated that “Although he has not been adopted as a prisoner of conscience, there is concern about the fairness of the proceedings leading to his conviction and it is believed that political factors may have influenced the way the case was prosecuted.” Numerous lawsuits have been filed on his behalf but none have succeeded.

Peltier’s next parole hearing is scheduled for 2024. Peltier will be 79 years old.