(Adds Canadian government comment, background, byline)

By Jane Sutton

MIAMI, April 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. military formally charged a young Canadian prisoner with murder and other crimes on Tuesday, clearing the way for his trial before the war crimes tribunal at the Guantanamo Bay naval base.

Omar Khadr, 20, was charged with murder, attempted murder, conspiring with al Qaeda to attack civilians, providing material support for terrorism and spying.

He was captured during a gunfight at an alleged al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan when he was just 15 and sent to Guantanamo shortly after his 16th birthday. He would face a life sentence if convicted.

The charges accuse Khadr of throwing a hand grenade that killed U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer during the battle in 2002. He is also accused of conducting surveillance of U.S. military convoys in Afghanistan and planting explosives along their routes.

Prosecutors drafted the charges in February and Susan J. Crawford, the military judge overseeing the war crimes tribunals at the Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, formally approved them on Tuesday.

Khadr had faced similar charges in the first Guantanamo tribunal system created by President George W. Bush to try suspected terrorists after the Sept. 11 attacks. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down that version of the war crimes court last year, and Khadr is the second prisoner to be charged under the new version created by Congress.

The first, Australian David Hicks, pleaded guilty last month to providing material support for terrorism and will serve a nine-month sentence in his homeland.

BIN LADEN TIES

The Australian government had publicly pressured the United States to formally charge and try Hicks, who had become a political symbol in Australia. But Canadian government officials have said very little publicly about Khadr.

On Tuesday, a spokesman for Canada's ministry of foreign affairs said, "Foreign affairs officials have carried out several welfare visits with Mr. Khadr and will continue to do so. Mr. Khadr faces serious charges."

The rules require that Khadr be arraigned within 30 days and that his trial begin within 120 days. His lawyers were not immediately available for comment but have said that trying him for crimes allegedly committed as a juvenile violates international law.

Khadr's family was close to Osama bin Laden and his Egyptian-born father, Ahmed Said Khadr, was an alleged al Qaeda financier killed in a battle with Pakistani soldiers in 2003. His family had lived in Pakistan but returned to Canada after the elder Khadr's death.

The United States has asked Canada to extradite one of Omar's older brothers, Abdullah Khadr, for trial in the civilian court system on 2005 charges of selling rockets and other weapons to al Qaeda and conspiring to kill Americans in Afghanistan. (Additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa)

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