Chapter 2 Evolution of the IACHR initiatives on Guantanamo | 27 to immediately close the detention facility; transfer the detainees to their home country or third countries in observance of the obligation of non-refoulement; expedite the release of those already cleared for transfer; and house any detainees subject to trial in appropriate conditions and accord them applicable due process rights. Precautionary Measure 8/06 – Omar Khadr, United States 31. 32. On January 17, 2006, the IACHR received a request for precautionary measures in favor of Omar Khadr, a 19-year-old Canadian citizen detained in Guantanamo. 18 According to the information received during a hearing held on March 13, 2006, in the context of the IACHR’s 124th period of sessions, Khadr was on trial before a military commission in Guantanamo for a crime allegedly committed in Afghanistan when he was 15 years old. During his detention and interrogation by military personnel, he was allegedly denied medical attention; his feet and hands were handcuffed for long periods of time, and he was kept in a cell with fierce dogs; he was threatened with sexual abuse; and his head was covered with a plastic bag. The petitioners alleged that the statements taken from him under these circumstances might be admitted as evidence and used against him. During the hearing, the State indicated that the military court could admit all reasonable evidence without clarifying whether statements obtained by torture or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment may be used in the trial. On March 21, 2006, the IACHR granted precautionary measures in favor of Omar Khadr. The Commission requested that the State, inter alia, adopt the measures necessary to ensure that the beneficiary would not be subjected to torture or cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment and to protect his right to physical, mental, and moral integrity, including measures to prevent him from being held incommunicado for long periods or subjected to forms of interrogation that infringe international standards of humane treatment. The IACHR also requested that the State respect the prohibition on the use of any statement obtained by means of torture or cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment against the beneficiary, and investigate the events and bring to justice those responsible, including those implicated when the doctrine of “management accountability” is applied. 33. In October 2010 Mr. Khadr pleaded guilty to five war crimes and agreed to a sentence of eight years, with no credit for time served, with the first year spent in U.S. custody. In exchange for that plea, he was promised he would be transferred to Canada to serve out the rest of his sentence. Mr. Khadr was finally transferred to a maximum security facility in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in September 2012. 19 In February 2014 he was moved to a medium-security prison in the same province. 20 18 IACHR, Precautionary Measure 8/06 – Omar Khadr, United States, March 21, 2006. Available at: http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/pdl/decisions/GuantanamoMC.asp#MC806 See CBC News Canada: Omar Khadr returns to Canada, September 29, 2012. Available at: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/omar-khadr-returns-to-canada-1.937754. See CBC News Canada: Omar Khadr moves to medium-security prison. Available at: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/omar-khadr-moves-to-medium-security-prison-1.2532793 19 20 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights | IACHR