US Supreme Court denies appeal of Ex-Guantanamo detainee’s war crime convictions

The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by a Canadian former Guantanamo detainee of his convictions for war crimes committed in Afghanistan.

Toronto-born Omar Khadr was 15 years old when he was captured on an Afghan battlefield in 2002 and sent to the US military prison in Cuba.

Khadr pleaded guilty in 2010 to murdering a US soldier in violation of the laws of war, attempted murder, conspiracy, providing material support for terrorism and spying.

He was sentenced to eight years in prison but was sent home to Canada in 2012 to serve the remainder of his sentence.

Khadr, who is now 37, had asked the US Supreme Court to vacate his convictions but the justices declined without comment on Monday to hear the case.

A lower US court had previously ruled that Khadr, as part of his guilty plea, had waived his right to appellate review.

Khadr’s father, a financier for al-Qaeda who was killed in a clash with Pakistani troops in 2003, took his son to Afghanistan as a child.