Trial to begin for youngest Guant-namo detainee

The World

Jury selection is set to get underway today in the controversial trial of 23-year-old Canadian Omar Khadr, the only Westerner remaining at the Guant-namo Bay detention center in Cuba. Khadr currently faces five charges of war crimes, including the fatal wounding of U.S. Delta Force soldier Christopher Speer in Afghanistan. Khadr has been imprisoned at Guant-namo Bay since the age of 15. This trial is the first war crimes trial under the Obama administration.

We speak with the Toronto Star’s national security reporter Michelle Shephard, who joins us from Guant-namo Bay, Cuba. And ACLU staff attorney Ben Wizner walks us through the differences and similarities between the Bush and Obama administrations when it comes to the treatment of detainees in Guant-namo Bay.

Will you support The World?

The story you just read is not locked behind a paywall because listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Now more than ever, we need your help to support our global reporting work and power the future of The World. Can we count on you?