EDMONTON—“Mr. Khadr you’re free to go.”

With those words, Alberta Court of Appeal Justice Myra Bielby turned down the federal government’s last-ditch effort Thursday to keep the 28-year-old detained.

Omar Khadr broke into a big, wide smile when the decision was read. His supporters in the courtroom erupted in cheers.

At 2:03 p.m. Toronto time, his lawyer Nathan Whitling posted a picture on Twitter of Khadr walking out of the courtroom with the caption: “#omarkhadr walks free.” The burly young man wore sneakers, jeans and a black T-shirt with his other lawyer, Dennis Edney, flanking him.

“I look forward to Omar Khadr letting the public see who he is,” Edney said earlier outside the court.

“When the decision came, “I said, ‘We’ve done it.’ He looked at me. He didn’t say a thing.”

Khadr did address the public Thursday night – on the driveway at Edney’s home.

“I would like to thank the media and public for trusting me and giving me a chance,” he said. “It might be some time but I will prove to them that I am more than what they thought of me.”

As the cameras flashed and reporters peppered him with questions, Khadr said, “I’m still learning about myself, still growing. I didn’t have a lot of experience in life. I’m excited to start.”

“I’m sorry for the pain I caused the families and victims. There’s nothing I can do about the past, but I hope I can do something with the future.”

His first dinner as a free man was to be lamb, with cupcakes for dessert.

“It is going to be a major adjustment for him but I’m sure he’s up for it,” Whitling had said after the decision.

“Whatever anybody might think of Mr. Khadr he has now served his time.”

Bielby had heard arguments in the case Tuesday but said she could not rule immediately and granted the government a 48-hour stay in the bail order.

Her decision to turn down the government’s emergency motion cannot be appealed, but Ottawa will appeal the bail order itself, which was granted in March by Justice June Ross.

No date has been set yet for that appeal and Khadr is free on bail until the case works its way through the appeal court.

"We are disappointed by the decision of the court, because we feel that victims should be considered in the decisions," Public Safety Minster Steven Blaney said at a press conference. Blaney said legal procedures against Khadr are "still underway" but he would not comment on whether the case will go to the Supreme Court.

In an earlier statement, Blaney also said: “Omar Khadr pleaded guilty to heinous crimes, including the murder of American Army medic Sergeant Christopher Speer. By his own admission, as reported in the media, his ideology has not changed.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Sergeant Christopher Speer during this difficult time. We have vigorously defended against any attempt to lessen his punishment for these crimes.

“While Justin Trudeau refused to rule out special compensation for this convicted terrorist and the NDP actively tries to force Canadian taxpayers to compensate him, we believe the victims of crime, not the perpetrators, are the ones who deserve compensation,” Blaney said.

An angry Edney responded to Ottawa: “We were the only Western government not to request one of its detainees to return home” from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

“We left a child, a Canadian child, to suffer torture; we participated in this torture.”

Of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Edney said: “Mr. Harper is a bigot. Mr. Harper doesn’t like Muslims. He wants to prove he’s tough on crime so who does he pick on? A 15-year-old boy.”

Toronto defence lawyer Peter Rosenthal praised Edney’s work in winning him bail, despite what Rosenthal called very strong opposition from the Harper government.

“It’s really required by justice that he be out on bail,” Rosenthal said in an interview.

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“It’s about time,” Rosenthal said. “The way he has been treated for half of his life, it’s about time. He should be out on bail and given a real trial.”

“The government never had any solid legal arguments,” military law specialist Paul Champ said in an interview from Ottawa. “It was clear that their position was political rather than legal.

“I’m proud to live in a country where judges can rule in accordance with legal principles and not political pressure,” Champ said.

Khadr will live with Edney, his wife Patricia, their son and two dogs in a six-bedroom home in an affluent Edmonton suburb.

Patricia Edney broke down in tears after the ruling was read.

Justice June Ross, who on Tuesday finalized Khadr’s bail conditions, has also allowed Khadr to spend time at the Edney’s vacation home in British Columbia.

Although Khadr does not have to be supervised while in public, he will have a curfew of 10 p.m. and wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.

Communication with his family – who remain controversial figures in Canada – will be limited to telephone or video calls supervised by Edney or his wife. Any face-to-face visits will have to be pre-approved by a bail supervisor.

Khadr told a prison psychologist earlier this year that he feels ready to be released into society but conceded, “I don’t think it will be a piece of cake.”

“I’ve screwed up in the past and I’m worried it will haunt me. People will think I’m the same person I was 12 or 13 years ago. They might treat me in the same light,” he said.

“However, if I carry myself with dignity and respect, people will respect me. I hope there won’t be this terrorism nonsense. I’m not going to get involved.”

Khadr was transferred to Canada in 2012 after nearly a decade in Guantanamo, where he was once the youngest detainee and was the sole captive the Pentagon charged with “murder in violation of the laws of war” for allegedly killing an American soldier in Afghanistan.

He said he accepted a Pentagon plea deal because he believed it was his only way out of Guantanamo, but does not clearly remember the firefight where Speer was fatally wounded and Khadr was shot and captured.

“I still take responsibility but hold on to hope it wasn’t me . . . I just hope I wasn’t the person responsible for killing someone,” he told the prison psychologist.

Khadr will be out on bail while the legality of his Guantanamo conviction is appealed in the U.S. – a lengthy review of his case that is unlikely to be resolved before his sentence expires.

With files from the Star’s Tanya Talaga and Peter Edwards