March 18, 2009 Ever since the Canadian citizen Mr. Bashir Makhtal was illegally rendered to Ethiopia by the Kenyan authorities two plus years ago, the Canadian government insisted on ‘quite diplomacy’ in gaining access to its citizen. The Ethiopians, at first, denied that they had Mr. Makhtal in custody.

They later belatedly admitted in holding him. Then, they claimed to have commissioned a ‘terror’ investigation against Mr. Makhtal, and promised that once the investigations were complete, they would grant Canadian consular access to Mr. Makhtal. Only recently did the Canadian government gain a brief consular access for its citizen.

According to reliable information received from the Ethiopian capital, nothing of value ever came out of the so-called ‘terror’ investigation. Instead, of releasing the Canadian citizen, the Ethiopian government decided to charge Mr. Makhtal for being a member of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), at first, in a military court, and then later in a ‘civilian’ court.

They have claimed to have had two witnesses, both of whom were either directly or indirectly related to the zone five Somali administration in the Somali inhabited region. Twice when Mr. Makhtal was brought to court, the Ethiopian government could not produce the said witnesses.

In one of the court sessions, when Mr. Makhtal complained that he could not follow the court proceedings which were being conducted in Amharic, the official language, the government prosecutor insisted that he be allowed to act as the court interpreter for Mr. Makhtal.

The Canadian government has not commented publicly, and not in private to our members’ knowledge, while all this drama was taking place in the Ethiopian courts. In fact, the Canadian government thought of it as a process and insisted on seeing the results of the process.

What we do know is that what is happening to Mr. Makhtal in Ethiopia today is neither credible nor just in any way, shape, or form. In fact, we have now received confirmation that the decision to convict Mr. Makhtal on all the charges against him have already been taken.

The scheduled court session on this coming Thursday (March 19th) is said to be just a public relations exercise which the Ethiopian government plans to later claim as evidence that Mr. Makhtal has had his day in a civilian court.

The following credible and verifiable information received recently from the Ethiopian capital confirms that Mr. Makhtal would have no way of defending himself against the Ethiopian charges

• Mr. Makhtal was repeatedly barred from meeting with the Canadian consular officials.
   
• The Ethiopians refused Mr. Makhtal to bring witnesses to corroborate his claims of innocence, or to challenge the Ethiopian charges.
   
• In the upcoming court session, the judge allowed the government to present so-called written testimony from the original two witnesses plus another four that the government had mysteriously now found.
   
• The Ethiopians refused to have a non-Ethiopian lawyer defend Mr. Makhtal. It is believed that the Ethiopians do not want the credibility of their Kangaroo court challenged.
• Mr. Makhtal is barred from presenting any affidavit that was not produced within Ethiopia to use on his defense.
   
• An ONLF letter that provided information that could exonerate Mr. Makhtal from the Ethiopian accusations has been denied to be presented in Mr. Makhtal’s defense. The government claimed that it does not recognize such as organization as a legal entity.
   
• The judge denied request from Mr. Makhtal and his Ethiopian lawyer to narrow the government’s four charges to a single charge. All four charges accuse Mr. Makhtal of the same thing: being a member of an illegal organization (ONLF). It is understood that the government wants the maximum sentence on each charge.
   
• The so-called civilian judges are neither civilian nor free judges to solely consider the strength and the merits of the evidence of the case against Mr. Makhtal.
   
• As a reference point, the judge is said to have accepted the decisions of a military court that held two previous sessions where the government could neither produce a single witness nor any evidence to corroborate its claims.

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Friends and Family of the Bashir Makhtal Campaign (FROBMAC)
Website: WWW.MAKHTAL.ORG
E-mail: freemakhtal@makhtal.org

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