Canada said today it would not press for the return of a young Canadian inmate held at Guantanamo Bay despite the release of video footage that showed him weeping and distressed.
The film prompted mounting calls from politicians and commentators for Ottawa to intercede with Washington on behalf of 21-year-old Omar Khadr, who is charged with killing a US medic in Afghanistan in July 2002 at the age of 15.
Secret video of his interrogation by Canadian agents over four days in February 2003 shows him moaning in despair and crying out for his mother.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Khadr faces serious charges and should go on trial.
"Our position has not changed and it's not going to. We're not going to blow in the wind on something as fundamental as this," Mr Harper's chief spokesman Kory Teneycke said.
Extracts from the secret video show Mr Khadr - then 16 - being interrogated by officials from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service spy agency.
The film was released by Mr Khadr's lawyers, who are pushing Ottawa to intervene with Washington on his behalf.
"Making a change at the 11th hour because his legal team is pursuing an aggressive media strategy is not in the interests of due process ... We're about doing what the right thing is," said Mr Teneycke.
Critics of Mr Khadr's treatment say he is a child soldier who should be rehabilitated rather than punished. Mr Khadr has alleged US interrogators repeatedly threatened to rape him.
Documents released earlier this month show US authorities deprived Mr Khadr of sleep ahead of a separate interview with an official from Canada's foreign ministry in 2004.
Mr Khadr was taken to Afghanistan by his father Ahmed Said Khadr, an alleged al-Qaeda financier and close friend of Osama bin Laden. Khadr senior was killed in a battle with Pakistani forces in 2003.
The United States is holding about 265 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in conditions which have been criticised by human rights groups.