Repatriated former Guantánamo prisoner has 19-hour surgery in Canada

Former Guantánamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr was recovering Monday after a 19-hour shoulder operation at the University of Alberta Hospital, his lawyer said.

Omar Khadr underwent the complex procedure Friday to address wounds to his shoulder that he suffered in Afghanistan before his capture in 2002, said Dennis Edney, a lawyer who worked to secure his release from the U.S. prison in Cuba.

Edney said Khadr was in intensive care and it was not clear how long it would take the 30-year-old to recover.

U.S. troops captured Khadr, then 15, following a firefight at a suspected al-Qaida compound in Afghanistan, and sent him to the U.S. Navy prison in Cuba once he turned 16. He pleaded guilty in 2010 to charges that included murder for the death of a U.S. soldier, Sgt. First Class Christopher Speer, in the battle. He returned to Canada two years later to serve the remainder of his sentence.

The Canadian-born Khadr was released to live with the Edney family in May 2015 pending an appeal of his conviction by military commission, the U.S. war court that President George W. Bush created after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. He said he pleaded guilty under durress.

This story was originally published March 14, 2017 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Repatriated former Guantánamo prisoner has 19-hour surgery in Canada."