Omar Khadr wants bail restrictions lifted to allow Toronto visit

Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr is asking aCanadian court to ease his bail conditions, to allow him to fly toToronto to visit his family, The Canadian Press has learned.

Among other things, Khadr also wants his curfew eased and to be rid of his electronicmonitoring bracelet, arguing it's embarrassing and intrusive.

"My release and reintegration into the community have been goinggreat," Khadr says in a supporting affidavit."I have not gotten into any trouble of any kind with theauthorities."

An Alberta judge granted Khadr bail on May 7 pending his appeal inthe U.S. against his 2010 conviction for war crimes - including themurder of an American special forces soldier - by a widelydiscredited military commission at Guantanamo Bay.

He was transferred to Canada in 2012 and remained incarcerated untilwinning bail and tasting freedom for the first time since hiscapture as a 15-year-old in Afghanistan in July 2002.

However, bail came with stringent conditions - including that helive with his lawyer Dennis Edney in Edmonton and not leave Alberta- except to stay at Edney's vacation home in B.C.

He was also required to communicate with his family - some ofwhom expressed pro-al-Qaida views in the past - only in English andunder the Edneys' supervision.

"I am now an adult and I think independently," Khadr, 29, saysin the document."Even if the members of my family were to wish to influence myreligious or other views, they would not be able to control or
influence me in any negative manner."

Khadr's maternal grandparents live in Toronto. He says hisgrandmother is ill and his grandfather barely speaks English. As aresult, he says, he wants to be able to visit them and converse inanother language without theEdneyspresent.

He also says he wants to see his mother, siblings, and otherrelatives during a two-week visit to Toronto, either this month ornext.

"None of my family members are involved in any illegalactivity," he says.

There was no immediate word on the government's response toKhadr's application to the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, which isexpected to hear the matter Sept. 11 in Edmonton, according to legal
filings.

However, the Conservative government has frequently denounced anyattempt by Khadr to "lessen his punishment" for what it called"heinous crimes." While Ottawa is appealing the fact he wasgranted bail, it has yet to request a date or file supportingdocuments.

Alberta's Court of Appeal has previously decided the eight-yearsentence the commission gave Khadr as part of his plea bargainamounts to a youth sentence - something the federal government isappealing to the Supreme Court of Canada. That means he would havebeen eligible for statutory release Aug. 19, according toCorrectional Service Canada.

Khadr says it's time to take off his electronic ankle bracelet,which he calls uncomfortable.

"It has also gone off several times and made noise all the time,even when I am in full compliance with my conditions," he says."This can be particularly embarrassing."

He says he wants to be able to attend early morning prayers, butneeds to be allowed to leave home at 5 a.m. to do so, or to take awalk or ride his bicycle.

"The original conditions are no longer necessary or in thepublic interest," Khadr's lawyer, Nate Whitling, writes in thebail-variance application.