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With a last-minute legal manoeuvre, the federal government will try to prevent the release of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr on bail on Tuesday in an Edmonton courtroom.

Federal lawyers have signalled to Khadr’s defence team that they will seek a rushed hearing with the Alberta Court of Appeal on Tuesday morning, just hours ahead of an afternoon hearing that was scheduled to set conditions on Khadr’s release on bail.

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“The federal government is defying legal tradition” by heading directly to the appeal court and proceeding without providing the generally accepted practice of 10 days’ notice, Khadr’s lawyer, Dennis Edney, told the Edmonton Journal.

The anticipated federal action is aimed at keeping Khadr, 28, in prison until appeal courts have heard the federal challenge of the Alberta decision granting him bail while his convictions are appealed in U.S. courts.

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“The Harper government is not interested in the rule of law,” Edney told The Canadian Press. “It refuses to listen to what the courts have said about Omar Khadr’s rights. It continues to spend millions of taxpayers dollars only to lose time and time again.”