Charges against child soldier held at Gitmo dropped [View All]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/04/charges-against-child-soldier-held-at-gitmo-dropped/

Charges against child soldier held at Gitmo dropped.

A legal battle with global implications was set to begin tomorrow with the Guantanamo Bay arraignment of Omar Ahmed Khadr, accused of killing a U.S. soldier with a grenade in 2002, when Khadr was 15 years old. “A range of legal experts describe as the first child fighter in decades to face war-crimes charges.” Now, the case has inexplicably fallen apart:

A military judge has dismissed charges against Canadian detainee Omar Khadr, saying the matter is outside the jurisdiction of the military tribunal system.

Khadr, a Canadian who was 15 when he was captured in Afghanistan…faced terrorism charges Monday under a reconfigured military tribunal system that critics say remains unconstitutional.

A 15-year-old held at Guantanamo for nearly 5 years, and now a day before his arraignment, the U.S. says he’s actually “outside the jurisdiction” of the tribunal system.