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TORONTO — Media fighting for access to Omar Khadr have failed to show a prison-interview ban was politically motivated and violated their constitutional rights, a Federal Court judge has ruled.

In his ruling, Judge Richard Mosley rejected suggestions that authorities worried a sympathetic portrayal of Khadr would fly in the face of government statements branding the former Guantanamo Bay detainee as an unrepentant terrorist.

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“I have not ignored the unfortunate history of apparent interference and public statements by government officials since Mr. Khadr’s repatriation,” Mosley said in his decision.

“However, there is nothing before me to suggest that the decision by (correctional) officials to deny the interview request was made otherwise than in good faith, applying the statutory and regulatory framework.”

I have not ignored the unfortunate history of apparent interference and public statements by government officials since Mr. Khadr’s repatriation

In March 2014, the CBC, Toronto Star, and White Pine Pictures requested an interview with Khadr, who was returned to Canada from Guantanamo in 2012.