Alberta judge rules Omar Khadr’s sentence has expired

An Edmonton judge has ruled that a war crimes sentence for former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr has expired, according to The Canadian Press.

Khadr’s eight-year sentence would have ended last October but the clock topped ticking when a judge freed him on bail in 2015 pending his appeal of his military conviction in the United States.

Khadr spent several years in U.S. detention at Guantanamo Bay after he was captured and accused of tossing a grenade that killed a special forces soldier in Afghanistan in 2001.

The Supreme Court of Canada had previously said the punishment handed to Khadr for alleged acts committed in Afghanistan when he was 15 years old was to be a youth sentence.

Alberta judge Chief Justice Mary Moreau says the Youth Criminal Justice Act gives judges flexibility to consider bail conditions as part of a sentence. The Canadian Press says she told an Edmonton court Monday that, with that in mind, she ruled Khadr has served his time.