Convicted murderer and former terrorist Omar Khadr is asking a judge to cancel the remainder of his eight year sentence.  

Khadr, 32, has been living under generous bail conditions in Alberta for the last three years while he appeals his sentence.

His lawyers are arguing that had he not been out on bail, his sentence would have expired by now.

In 2010, a U.S. military commission sentenced him to eight years for war crimes committed in Afghanistan while fighting against Canada and our allies alongside the Taliban.

While originally sentenced at Guantanamo Bay Prison, Khadr was moved to a Canadian prison in 2012.

In 2015, a Canadian judge approved his release on bail pending his appeal in the U.S. Technically, the clock stopped ticking on his sentence and he still has three years left to go.

Had Khadr served out his full sentence, he would have been released in October of 2018.

Despite still having three years left to serve, Khadr wants the youth court to simply terminate that sentence.

“The youth court judge does have the authority to just simply terminate the sentence and say, ‘It’s now over’,” said his lawyer Nate Whitling.

This may not be the case, however, since Khadr was moved to Canada to serve his sentence through an international treaty, and it isn’t clear if the provincial court can constitutionally nullify such an agreement.

Khadr, a Canadian citizen by birth, grew up in an “al Qaeda family” and was captured in Afghanistan alongside the Taliban. He was found guilty of terrorism and war crimes by a U.S. military commission as an alleged al Qaeda fighter.

In 2012, Khadr pleaded guilty to killing U.S. Army Medic Sgt. Christopher Speer in Afghanistan.   Because of this plea bargain, he was moved to a Canadian prison.

He later changed his mind and is now appealing his U.S. conviction.

Khadr also sued the Canadian government, claiming that his charter rights were not upheld during interrogations with visiting Canadian officials at Guantanamo Bay.

In 2017, the Canadian government quietly issued an apology and awarded Khadr with $10.5 million for how he was treated at Guantanamo Bay, despite not being required to do so by law.

A judge will hear Khadr’s application later this month.

A group in Windsor, Ontario is hoping to turn their community into a so-called “sanctuary city.”

Sanctuary cities are an American invention — designed to help illegal migrants in the U.S. evade federal deportation orders. Left-wing activists in Canada have recently taken to appropriating this policy and importing it to our country.

Sanctuary cities are known for refusing to verify a person’s immigration status before that person is eligible to receive taxpayer-funded municipal services, be it a library card, subsidized housing or even employment with the local government.

Regardless of immigration status, sanctuary cities provide all individuals with the same services and privileges as legal tax-paying residents and Canadian citizens.

These policies, however, also encourage more illegal immigration and can help to facilitate dangerous criminals hiding from law enforcement.

The Windsor Law chapter of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers recently organized  a panel to discuss how a U.S.-style sanctuary policy could be implemented.

The group has made up a new euphemism, “access without fear,” to soften and water down the more specific term, sanctuary city.

The panel was moderated by Gemma Smyth, the Associate Dean of Law at the University of Windsor on February 5.

Smyth believes that sanctuary cities can be extended to any municipal service.

“It’s as simple as getting a library card,” said Smyth.

“Anything a municipality is involved with funding. It really depends on the individual municipality.”

Regardless of what you call it, sanctuary city policies have proven to be expensive failures wherever implemented.

While American sanctuary city policies have come under intense scrutiny in recent years following a string of murders committed by illegal migrants who were aided by sanctuary policies, many places in Canada still champion this failed U.S. policy.

Cities like Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Hamilton have all instituted sanctuary city policies without consulting their residents — in effect nullifying Canada’s laws by giving migrants the same right to services as tax-paying citizens and legal immigrants.

Sanctuary cities spend huge sums to provide services for people who have no legal right to be in the country.

New York City, one of the world’s largest sanctuary city, spends around $5.6 billion a year on servicing illegal immigrants.

The costs of hosting illegal immigrants in Toronto, a sanctuary city, has skyrocketed since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invited the world’s migrants to come to Canada, with the federal government paying millions in taxpayer money to the city to provide more housing.

Windsor may soon be the next city to deal with the costs of providing “access without fear.”

Eight years.

That’s how much prosecutors are seeking for the woman who tried to join ISIS and later launched a terrorist attack on a Canadian Tire.

This is a significantly lower sentence than other terrorists, and falls far short of the maximum sentence.

Rehab Dughmosh, 34, was found guilty of terrorism-related charges earlier this month.

In her own words, she was trying to “kill and hurt people” in the name of ISIS.

While Dughmosh could receive up to twelve years, prosecutors have chosen just eight.

Prosecutors are seeking a significantly lighter sentence because a court-ordered psychiatrist believes she is suffering from a mental illness.

However, Dughmosh herself disagrees with the psychiatric assessment, claiming to be both mentally sound and having no regrets.

The Crown also suggests reducing her sentence by a rate of 1.5 days per day served, which would reduce their sentence by an additional 2.5 years.

The woman, who has already been found guilty of terrorism, pledged allegiance to ISIS in a previous court appearance and has confessed to planning and executing the attack.

In 2017 Dughmosh donned a bandana with the ISIS logo at a Scarborough Canadian Tire and attacked three employees with a butchers knife and a golf club.

The three employees quickly subdued her without serious injuries.

While the employees were waiting for police to arrive they asked Dughmosh about her intentions.

“Revenge … to stop killing Muslims in Syria and Iraq. You’re killing ISIS, I’m from ISIS,” she shouted.

A year before her attack, Dughmosh had flown to Turkey and traveled across the country with the intention of crossing into Syria and joining ISIS.

Turkish authorities stopped her and sent her back to Canada after receiving a tip from the RCMP.

Despite knowing she supported ISIS and wanted to join them, the RCMP dropped her case.

A year later she executed her own ISIS-style attack on her neighbours in Scarborough.

The judge is still reviewing Dughmosh’s psychiatric assessment, her decision is expected on February 14.

Pamir Hakimzadah, 29, of Toronto, pleaded guilty to one count of leaving Canada to participate in the activity of a terrorist group.

In 2014 Hakimzadah flew to Istanbul, Turkey, from Toronto. Several days later Turkish counter-terrorism police arrested him after he was reported by his taxi driver.

Turkish authorities deported him to Canada for attempting to join ISIS.

When he returned to Canada after failing to join ISIS, Hakimzadah admitted he had gone to Turkey to “fight for Allah.”

Despite returning to Canada in 2014, an investigation was not opened until 2016 when he was charged with assault and uttering threats stemming from an unrelated incident.

Last week, the former Ryerson University engineering student was finally charged — three years after the fact. He now faces up to ten years in prison.

In an agreed statement of facts, Hakimzadah admitted that he flew to Turkey with the intention of joining ISIS and fighting on their behalf.

“The purpose of Pamir’s trip was to enter Syria via Turkey. There he intended to join a terrorist group known as ISIS or Daesh,” the Crown lawyer told the court on February 1.

“He spoke either in favour of or in defence of ISIS. He viewed online ISIS content such as videos and posts.”

“He also viewed a website that provided instructions on how to get into Syria.”

Public Safety Canada guesses “about 60” people who had gone abroad to fight for ISIS have since returned to Canada, according to Public Safety Canada.

One of these people, Rehab Dughmosh, went on to launch her own ISIS-inspired attack on Canadian soil.

Like Hakimzadah, Dughmosh was ignored by RCMP until long after she was deported by Turkish Authorities.

Hakimzadah returns to court for sentencing on February 26.