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Bashir Makhtal four years later: we must despair for other Canadians caught up in miscarriages of justice abroad

Thursday, 20 January 2011 15:13 administrator
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By Kate Heartfield, Ottawa Citizen

Four years ago Thursday, Kenyan authorities forced a Canadian citizen onto a plane and flew him, illegally, to Ethiopia. Bashir Makhtal is still in prison in Ethiopia despite the fact that Stephen Harper’s right-hand man has taken a personal interest in the case for more than two years.

“This is an important case, not just for Bashir but for the whole Somali community,” says Government House Leader John Baird, who adds that he’s been amazed at how many people approach him to ask him about it all over the country. There’s a demonstration on Makhtal’s behalf scheduled for noon Thursday in downtown Ottawa, following a press conference by his supporters.

Baird says there’s been a sustained effort on the part of public servants and politicians from more than one party to get justice for Makhtal. He travelled to Ethiopia in 2010 and met Makhtal in prison.

Last Updated on Thursday, 20 January 2011 15:25 Read more...
 

Canadian jailed four years in Ethiopia fears for his life

Thursday, 20 January 2011 14:56 administrator
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DAVID McDOUGALL

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

“To Whom It May Concern:

“I am in Ethiopian prison for all most 4long years, with out any communication to the outside world.

“I do not know whether I will be able to get this message out to the world of freedom,” reads the handwritten undated letter, with misspelled words angled neatly across a single page and titled simply, “The Jailed Bashir Makhtal.”

The letter, penned by the 42-year-old Ethiopian-born Canadian and smuggled out of Kaliti Prison in Addis Ababa some time last month, is the latest and most revealing communication from Mr. Makhtal since his ordeal began.

For the past four years, Mr. Makhtal, a former Toronto-area IT specialist, has languished in Ethiopian jails. Convicted of terrorism-related charges, he was sentenced in 2009 to life in prison.

The government of Canada and his family and friends say he is innocent, and have pressed for his release or return to Canada.

According to the letter, Mr. Makhtal, who has seen little hope for release since his sentence was handed down, now fears he may be killed. “Though I was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life … now Ethiopians are about to take their next step – to get red of me,” he writes, suggesting they want him to attempt to escape as a pretext to shoot him.

Last Updated on Thursday, 20 January 2011 15:10 Read more...
 

Wife despairs for man in Ethiopia jail

Monday, 27 December 2010 20:05 administrator
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Debra Black
 Staff Reporter

It is the same every morning. Asiso Osman Abdi wakes at around 3 a.m., worried about her future and the plight of her husband Bashir Makhtal.

She goes into the comfy kitchen in the home of her cousin-in-law Said Maktal and makes tea and drinks it.

Her beautiful dark brown eyes are ringed with circles, recounts Maktal, who finds her in his kitchen every morning when he wakes to say prayers.

The peace of sleep eludes her, she tells him in Somali, because she is fearful she may never see her husband again.

“To me, I feel like the Canadian government doesn’t care about my husband and his passport,” she says through a translator during an interview with the Star.

Makhtal, a Canadian citizen, is serving a life sentence in a prison in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, after being charged with multiple counts of terrorism for allegedly being a ringleader with the Ogaden National Liberation Front, an ethnic Somali group formed to fight for independence in the oil-rich region.

Last Updated on Monday, 27 December 2010 20:23 Read more...
 

Canadian jailed in Ethiopia says abandoned by Ottawa

Thursday, 20 January 2011 14:50 administrator
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Debra Black
 Staff Reporter

A Canadian citizen imprisoned for life in an Ethiopian jail has berated Ottawa for being “reluctant to save me from such unjust and inhuman treatment” by the African nation.

Bashir Makhtal, in a letter obtained by the Star, describes his anger at being left to languish in jail and Canada’s lack of action, adding that the Ethiopian government has used him “to put (the) Canadian government to the test.”

The letter, which was smuggled out of an Ethiopian jail in early December, will be released at a news conference in Ottawa Thursday — the anniversary of Makhtal’s rendition from Kenya to Ethiopia.

“I am writing to tell my fellow Canadian citizens that I am a hostage for an African country which receives millions of dollars of the taxes you paid from our government as humanitarian aid.”

Former Torontonian Makhtal, 42, is serving a life sentence in a prison in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, after being charged with multiple counts of terrorism for allegedly being a ringleader with the Ogaden National Liberation Front, a separatist group that was outlawed by the Ethiopians.

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It is time for Bashir Makhtal to return to Canada – Open Letter

Friday, 11 June 2010 21:56 administrator
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In an Open Letter to the Prime Minster, Alex Neve of Amnesty Canada and Ihsaan Gardee of Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations call on the Canadian government to make Canadian citizen Bashir Makhtal’s immediate return home possible.

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper 
Prime Minister of Canada 
80 Wellington Street 
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A2 

By fax: 613-941-6900 

June 11, 2010 

Dear Prime Minister, 

We have written to you previously, and to other members of your government, about the troubling case of Bashir Makhtal. Mr. Makhtal, a Canadian citizen of Ogadeni origin, has been imprisoned in Ethiopia for close to 3 ½ years now where he has experienced a range of very serious human rights violations. 

We are writing at this time in light of the invitation you personally have extended to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to attend this month’s G20 Summit in Toronto. We urge that you make it clear to Prime Minister Zenawi that you expect Mr. Makhtal to be released and be able to return to Canada by the time Prime Minister Zenawi travels here. In effect, you should stress that the invitation to come to Canada is an invitation for two: the Prime Minister and Mr. Makhtal. 

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Wife despairs for man in Ethiopia jail

 

Debra Black
 Staff Reporter

It is the same every morning. Asiso Osman Abdi wakes at around 3 a.m., worried about her future and the plight of her husband Bashir Makhtal.

She goes into the comfy kitchen in the home of her cousin-in-law Said Maktal and makes tea and drinks it.

Her beautiful dark brown eyes are ringed with circles, recounts Maktal, who finds her in his kitchen every morning when he wakes to say prayers.

The peace of sleep eludes her, she tells him in Somali, because she is fearful she may never see her husband again.

“To me, I feel like the Canadian government doesn’t care about my husband and his passport,” she says through a translator during an interview with the Star.

Makhtal, a Canadian citizen, is serving a life sentence in a prison in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, after being charged with multiple counts of terrorism for allegedly being a ringleader with the Ogaden National Liberation Front, an ethnic Somali group formed to fight for independence in the oil-rich region.

Read more...