Omar Khadr to be transferred to U.S prison in Illinois

CTVNEWS

Omar Khadr to be transferred to U.S prison in Illinois

The Canadian Press Published Wednesday, December 16, 2009 2:14PM EST

In this photo of a sketch by courtroom artist Janet Hamlin, reviewed by the U.S. Military, Canadian Omar Khadr sits during a hearing at the U.S. Military Commissions court for war crimes, at the U.S. Naval Base, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 19, 2009. (THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Text:

EDMONTON - Omar Khadr will be among some 100 Guantanamo detainees that U.S. officials say will be transferred to a prison in rural Illinois.

Khadr, 23, was to be told the news Wednesday morning.

Nathan Whitling, Khadr's lawyer, says officials at the Pentagon have confirmed that Khadr will be sent to Thomson Correctional Centre sometime next year.

But Whitling says Khadr may not be transferred before his trial begins in July on charges that he killed an American soldier in Afghanistan in 2002.

Whitling says living conditions at Thomson, which is to be upgraded to a maximum security prison, will not be better than the conditions at the detention facility in Cuba.

And he says Khadr will still face trial by a military commission instead of a civilian court.