Victims of over-zealous US prosecutors?

TO AMERICAN prosecutors they are "the worst of the worst" in terrorist circles. To their defenders they are an easy target falsely accused by an over-eager US anti-terrorist establishment.

The list of allegations against the Khadr family — mother, father, four sons and a daughter — made by US civilian and military prosecutors may just rank them as the world's first family of terrorism. All Canadian citizens, they have lived in Canada, Egypt, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Every member of the family has been accused of at least some link to al-Qaeda and Afghan extremists.

Yesterday, one son was to appear in front of a US military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay for his preliminary hearing. Another son is in custody in Toronto. He appears in court today, wanted on a US extradition warrant.

Omar Khadr, 19, is only the fifth detainee at Guantanamo Bay to be formally charged and appear in front of the military tribunal. According to US authorities, in July 2002, at the age of just 15, he tossed a grenade and killed a US soldier in Afghanistan. The soldier was checking the wreckage of a house that had been destroyed by a missile when Omar allegedly threw the grenade. He was shot three times and became the youngest detainee at Guantanamo Bay.

The oldest of the Khadr boys, Abdullah, is accused by the US Attorney in Boston of buying weapons on behalf of al-Qaeda: rocket launchers, mines and AK-47 rifles. He sits in a Toronto jail cell and has been denied bail while he awaits his extradition hearing.

The father, Ahmed Said Khadr, was reputedly a top member of Osama bin Laden's organisation and one of its main fund-raisers. He was killed by a missile fired by a US helicopter in Afghanistan, in an attack the US military described as "wiping out at least six high-ranking al-Qaeda and Taliban members".

Another of Omar's brothers, Abdurahman, spent time in Guantanamo Bay but was released. After spending yet more time in Afghanistan, where it was reported he worked for the CIA, he returned to Canada.

The fourth brother, Abdul Karim, was injured and left partially paralysed in the same attack that killed his father.

Even the sister, Zaynab, has been accused by US authorities of helping to run an al-Qaeda training camp in the 1990s, according to Canadian media reports. Her laptop was seized by Canadian authorities last year when she returned to Canada. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police claimed it contained training and recruiting material for terrorists.

But the Khadr family's lawyer, Dennis Edney, points out that while the list of charges is damning, that's all it is: a list of charges. "I have yet to see a single scintilla of evidence on any of these charges," Mr Edney said.

Officials at the US Defence Department, Attorney's Office and State Department have refused to provide any evidence publicly against the Khadrs. They also refuse to comment beyond reiterating the charges.

Mr Edney is a passionate defender of the Khadrs. "I, for one, believe they are innocent," he said.

He also condemns the military tribunal system that Omar Khadr will face as "contrary to American and international law".

"I've been representing (the Khadrs) for years and the Americans haven't shown me anything to show that any of these (allegations) are true," he said. "They are being prosecuted based on guilt by association."

But even Mr Edney recognises that the Khadrs have not helped their own cause.

When Zaynab appeared on Canadian television in 2004, she defended her family's actions, in particular those of Omar. "I mean, it's a war," she said. "They're shooting at him. Why can't he shoot at you? If you killed three, why can't he kill one? … Why doesn't (anybody) say you killed three of his friends? Why does everybody say you killed an American soldier? Big deal."

The mother said that she would rather have her sons die a martyr than die "gay and on drugs" on the streets of Toronto. Her remarks and those of her daughter were widely interpreted as support for al-Qaeda and terrorism.

ALL IN THE FAMILY

FATHER: Ahmed Said Khadr

DEAD Killed by American missile. US says he was al-Qaeda leader.

MOTHER: Maha Khadr

FREE Born in Palestinian Territories. Married Ahmed Khadr in Canada.

DAUGHTER: Zaynab Khadr

FREE US alleges she ran al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan in the 1990s.

YOUNGEST SON: Omar Khadr

HELD At Guantanamo Bay. Arrested by US forces in Afghanistan, age 15, charged with killing American soldier with a grenade. Shot three times.

ELDEST SON: Abdullah Khadr

JAILED IN TORONTO Awaiting extradition hearing on US charges of buying weapons for al-Qaeda.

SON: Abdurahman Khadr

FREE Spent four months in Guantanamo, may now be working for CIA.

SON: Abdul Karim Khadr

PARALYSED Injured in US missile attack in Afghanistan.

By Richard Reynolds, Toronto