She Helped Get Him Out of Gitmo; Now She's Marrying Him

As Omar Khadr fought for years to be released from Guantanamo Bay, he always had Canadian human rights activist Muna Abougoush in his corner. Abougoush helped put together the Free Omar Khadr website and even visited him when he was eventually moved to a Canadian prison, notes the Guardian. Now it appears Abougoush will be in Khadr's corner for life, with CTV News reporting that the two are engaged. An April 17 Facebook post sent congrats to the couple on their "upcoming engagement," an announcement confirmed by a family friend. Khadr, who was born in Canada, is currently out on bail for war crimes convictions, living with his lawyer, Dennis Edney, in Edmonton, and studying to become an emergency medical responder. Edney also confirmed the engagement, telling the Toronto Star, "Omar became engaged and should be left alone to get on with his life."

Khadr, now 29, became famous as Gitmo's youngest prisoner and the last Westerner to leave there. He was captured in 2002 at age 15 by US troops in Afghanistan and charged with war crimes, including murder in the death of US soldier Christopher Speer. He pleaded guilty to five crimes in 2010, but later said he accepted the plea deal to get out of Guantanamo (he said he endured years of abuse) and that he can't recall the 2002 firefight in which Speer was killed, per the Star. Abougoush's father, Bill, tells the Star that Khadr's hands were shaking as he put the engagement ring on his 26-year-old daughter's hand Saturday in front of family and friends. "I was thinking: Wow, after all you've been through, your hands are shaking to put a ring on someone's finger," Bill says. He says Khadr is "a real gentle, gentle person" who's never exhibited "a shred of anger." (More Omar Khadr stories.)