Ahmed Khadr, seen here in a file photo

USA. NO DEATH PENALTY IN NEW GUANTANAMO CASES

November 9, 2005: the Pentagon said the United States would not seek the death penalty against any of the five Guantanamo Bay prisoners it had announced charges against on November 7. The charges against Canadian Omar Ahmed Khadr, Saudis Ghassan Abdullah al-Sharbi and Jabran Said bin al-Qahtani, Algerian Sufyian Barhoumi and Ethiopian Binyam Ahmed Muhammed brought to nine the number of foreign terrorism suspects at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, formally accused of crimes.
"None of the five will be referred as capital cases," said Air Force Maj. Jane Boomer, a Pentagon spokeswoman.
Boomer did not explain the reasoning behind the decision not to seek the death penalty in any of the cases.
She said the process involved recommendations from military prosecutors and Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hemingway, legal adviser in the trial process, and a final decision by John Altenburg, a retired Army major general overseeing the trial process.
Khadr, a Canadian citizen who recently turned 19, was 15 when he was sent to Guantanamo. He was charged with murder in the killing of a US soldier, Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer, with a grenade near Khost, Afghanistan.
His lawyers asserted he had been abused in US custody and that his capture and detention at age 15 violated American responsibilities under accords regarding treatment of young people during war.
The other four detainees were charged with conspiracy to commit murder, attacks on innocent civilians, destruction of property and terrorism. (Sources: Reuters, 09/11/2005)