WASHINGTON - March 8 - On March 13, 2006, student attorneys for Canadian youth Omar Khadr, now imprisoned at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, will make a plea to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Washington, D.C., that the Military Commission trial against Omar-the first of any child in modern world history-be suspended until it complies with pre-existing law, due process, and international standards for juvenile justice.

The IACHR hearing is on Monday, March 13, 2006, at 4:45 p.m. at the Commission offices at 1889 F Street, NW, Washington, D.C. The hearing will be closed to the press and public.

Prof. Richard J. Wilson, an attorney on Omar's Civilian Defense Counsel team, and two student attorneys from American University Washington College of Law's International Human Rights Law Clinic, Sheku Sheikholeslami and Julia Engel, acting under Prof. Wilson's supervision, will ask the IACHR to request that the United States Government take precautionary measures to:

• Suspend Omar's military commission trial until it comports with due process and international juvenile justice standards
• Afford Omar all rights guaranteed to juveniles generally
• Provide training in international human rights and juvenile justice standards to all U.S. government personnel in contact with Omar and other children at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay.

Omar Khadr is in his fourth year of U.S. detention. Only 15 years old when U.S. forces first detained him in Bagram, Afghanistan, in July 2002, he was transferred to Guantánamo Bay in October 2002 and held without charges until November 7, 2004. Omar suffered serious abuse at the hands of U.S. military personnel in both Bagram and Guantánamo Bay. Despite his young age, Omar has been treated as an adult since his capture.

The IACHR promotes the observance and defense of human rights. As part of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR's mandate is found in the OAS Charter and other human rights instruments in the region of the Americas. The IACHR receives, analyzes, and investigates individual petitions that allege human rights violations; observes human rights situations in member states; and issues precautionary measures to States in serious and urgent cases, in order to prevent irreparable harm.

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