US | Fri Apr 24, 2015 12:22pm EDT

Omar Khadr, once a Guantanamo inmate, granted bail in Canada

CALGARY, ALBERTA

(Reuters) - Omar Khadr, a Canadian who was once the youngest prisoner held in the Guantanamo military base before being transferred to a prison in the province of Alberta in 2012, has been granted bail and could be released early next month while he appeals his murder conviction by a U.S. military tribunal.

Khadr, now 28, was captured in Afghanistan when he was 15. He pleaded guilty to killing a U.S. soldier and has been incarcerated since 2002. He will be released from a prison near Innisfail, Alberta, on May 5, when a judge will set the conditions of his release, said his lawyer, Dennis Edney.

"I hoped that justice would prevail and it did," Edney said. "We'll have a date with a judge in coming weeks and we'll talk about conditions of release."

The right-wing Canadian government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, which has consistently opposed any effort to free the one-time child soldier, said it will contest the ruling.

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