Citing security concerns, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews wants U.S. authorities to turn over additional video interviews with Omar Khadr before the convicted war criminal can be transferred from Guantanamo Bay to Canada.

Toews wrote to U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta Thursday to ask for access to sealed video interviews conducted “to assess the mental state of Mr. Khadr” as well as complete reports from psychiatrists Michael Welner and Alan Hopewell.

The move prompted disbelief from Khadr’s supporters and experts.

“My understanding is the Canadians are dragging their feet, not the U.S.,” said Marc Sageman, a forensic psychologist who testified before the Sept. 11 commission and has written extensively on terrorism and deradicalization.

“It seems to me that they’re very hesitant to bring him back to Canada.”

In the letter, Toews writes that the information in the videotapes and unredacted reports from Welner and Hopewell may be relevant to Khadr’s application for transfer, received by his office on May 23, 2012.

“These items are necessary in order for me to ensure that the Correctional Service of Canada and the Parole Board of Canada would be able to effectively secure Mr. Khadr and appropriately administer his sentence in Canada,” he said.

“Once I have received these items I will be in a position to render my decision with respect to Mr. Khadr’s transfer application.”

Khadr pleaded guilty in October 2010 to five war crimes, including murder, for his role in the death of U.S. Delta Force soldier Christopher Speer. He received an eight-year sentence in return.

Part of his plea deal included a diplomatic note from Canada’s embassy in Washington stating that Ottawa would “favourably consider” Khadr’s transfer after one more year in Guantanamo.

Welner, a well known forensic psychologist, was the Pentagon’s star witness in Khadr’s sentencing hearing in October 2010. His credibility was later attacked in a motion filed by Khadr’s lawyers, who called his testimony “unscientific” and designed to mislead the jury.

Welner told the court that Khadr is a dangerous murderer who has “marinated in radical jihadism” and whose notoriety has made him the “rock star of Gitmo.”

“He murdered,” said Welner. “He has been part of Al Qaeda ... and we’re still at war.”

Sageman said he was surprised the Canadian government is consulting Welner’s “very flawed testimony.”

Sageman, who was quoted in the defence motion filed by Khadr’s lawyers, said Welner relies heavily on the work on Danish psychologist Nicolai Sennels, who has claimed that “massive inbreeding within the Muslim culture during the last 1,400 years may have done catastrophic damage to their gene pool.”

“(Welner) doesn’t know much about terrorism, which is why he was not able to see what was legitimate,” Sageman told the court..

Welner has called such attributions false, misleading and unfounded.

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In an email to the Star, Welner — who interviewed Khadr for about eight hours over two days in the summer of 2010, but told the court he had spent 500 to 600 hours on the case — said his examination reviewed more source material and conducted more face-to-face interviews than anyone contributing to the proceedings.

“Any 2010 discussions with the United States government about repatriating Khadr did not account for my interview, my report, or my testimony,” he wrote.

With files from Michelle Shephard