Omar Khadr's sentencing hearing was adjourned unexpectedly Friday, after jurors heard how an American interrogator threatened him with gang rape.

According to the unsworn statement read by Khadr's defence lawyer Lt. Col. Jon Jackson, the incident occurred when the then-15-year-old was first taken to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan in 2002.

"It is hard for me to talk about," Canadian-born Khadr said in the statement. "I know it does not change what I did, but I hope you will think about it when you punish me."

The statement echoes testimony by former Sgt. Joshua Claus who admitted in May to telling Khadr about a young Muslim boy who was sent to a U.S. prison where "big black guys" gang raped him, possibly to death. In return for his testimony, Claus was given immunity from prosecution for any possible abuse of Khadr. Claus nevertheless received a court-martial and was discharged from the army in connection with the death of another prisoner at Bagram in December 2002.

"This story scared me very much, and made me cry," Khadr said in the final defence submission at the sentencing hearings in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In pre-trial hearings, the defence argued that the threat was a critical factor that led to Khadr's confession that he killed American special forces soldier Sgt. Chris Speer in July, 2002.

Khadr, 24, pleaded guilty on Monday to five war-crimes charges, thereby admitting that he threw the grenade that killed Speer.

The panel of seven military jurors, who were dismissed for the day following Khadr's statement on Friday, are expected to hear closing statements on Saturday.

Although the jury can recommend any sentence up to life behind bars, under the terms of a plea agreement Khadr's sentence is widely expected to be capped at eight years. Reporting from Cuba, Globe and Mail reporter Paul Koring said that if the jurors hand Khadr a lesser sentence, he will serve that instead.

"This is designed in military court because you don't want the young and inexperienced soldiers making the deal that they think is right and then the jury says, 'Actually, you deserve even less time'," Koring told CTV, explaining that the jury does not know Khadr cut a deal.

Khadr's plea agreement will also allow him to seek transfer to a Canadian prison after he has served one year of his sentence in U.S. custody.

Since his capture and subsequent detention at Guantanamo Bay, Khadr has spent more than one-third of his life in U.S. custody.

With files from The Canadian Press