The Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Friday that the Canadian government must allow access to confidential documents requested by lawyers for Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr.

Khadr's lawyers have been seeking the documents, saying they could be crucial to their client's defense in his upcoming U.S. military trial. The demand has been rejected by the Canadian Foreign Affairs Department and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

Lawyers for the Canadian government argued that releasing the files could jeopardize international relations and reveal classified information. They said Canada does not have an obligation to hand over the files.

Khadr, a 22-year-old Canadian citizen, was captured during a firefight in Afghanistan in 2002, and accused of throwing a grenade that killed an American army sergeant.

Khadr, who was 15 at the time, has been imprisoned at the U.S. naval base jail in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he is awaiting trial by a military commission on charges of murder and war crimes.

Khadr is the only remaining western prisoner at Guantanamo Bay.

Canada, unlike other western nations with citizens detained there, has not pushed to have Khadr returned home.

(mathaba.net)