A Canadian judge eased restrictions on former Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr's use of the Internet on Friday, but denied his request for unfettered contact with his sister who supports Islamic extremists.
Khadr, 30, had asked for more freedoms while on bail in Canada pending a decision in his appeal of a war crimes conviction by a US military tribunal.
Justice June Ross said there was no evidence Khadr's sister Zaynab had attenuated her extremist views (she publicly supported Al-Qaeda), and denied his request for unsupervised visits.
"Zaynab Khadr currently lives somewhere in the Middle East and Omar has a number of nieces and nephews, who are her children, but (the judge) declined to change the current restrictions," Khadr's lawyer Nathan Whitling told reporters outside the court in Edmonton, Alberta.
"He can still contact her, but it has to be in the presence of a responsible person who's been approved in advance by his bail supervisor," he said.
"It's an inconvenience but it's not a huge big deal."
Another request to be able to travel more freely within Canada was also denied. But Khadr can now use Internet-connected devices such as smartphones, "which will make life a lot easier for him," said Whitling.
"Of course he can't access any sort of terrorist propaganda," he said. "But that's just fine because he doesn't want to do that anyway."
Toronto-born Khadr was 15 years old when he was captured on an Afghan battlefield in 2002 and sent to the US prison.
In 2010, he was sentenced to eight years following a US military hearing in which he agreed to plead guilty to murdering a US soldier in violation of the laws of war, attempted murder, conspiracy, providing material support for terrorism and spying.
As part of the agreement, he was sent home to Canada in 2012 to serve the remainder of his sentence.
Since his release on bail two and a half years ago, Khadr has gotten married and plans to study nursing.
In July, the Canadian government paid him Can$10.5 million to settle a lawsuit. The Supreme Court had ruled in 2010 that Ottawa violated his rights by participating in US interrogations in Guantanamo.