DAY FOUR OF COURT AND KHADR’S A NO SHOW. AGAIN.

 We’ve now had three days of court where Omar Khadr has declined to attend. The judge has now ordered the prosecution to produce a witness at least 30 minutes before court is scheduled to start if Khadr declines to come to court again. The person who preps Khadr each day for court testifies as to why he is refusing to come each day. So as not to slow the proceedings down any further, that person must be at the court  before the official start time if Khadr refuses to come.

Let’s recap the reasons for his deciding not to sit in the courtroom.

Day 2: He didn’t want to wear the “eyes and ears” (blacked-out goggles and noise-canceling headphones) while in the van on the way to court because he either felt “humiliated” by them or they caused his eyes to hurt more. He was eventually forced to come in the afternoon where he looked decidedly miserable the whole time.

Day 3: He refused to let the guard perform a waistband search. The judge took this as a voluntary absence and continued on with the hearing.

Day 4: He refused to come but appears to be in good health because he played basketball on Friday night.

The problem with this and the frustration for his counsel is Khadr cannot participate in his own defense if he isn’t coming to court. He’s one of the only people who can challenge the agents and officers who have already testified about his knowledge and demeanor during the manhy interrogations he went through. On top of that, the judge could see Khadr’s refusal to show up in court as “apathy” towards the process and that could weigh upon his ruling.

Khadr’s main lawyer, Barry Coburn, spoke to the press after the hearing on Saturday.