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 Refuses to
admit to lawyer that man is being detained in his country
March 28, 2007
Debra Black
Staff Reporter
Lawyer Lorne Waldman met with the Ethiopian ambassador in Ottawa
yesterday to discuss the detention of a Canadian citizen and felt
like he did when he tried to free another Canadian – Maher Arar –
from imprisonment in Syria.
"It was very strange," said Waldman of his meeting with the
Ethiopian Ambassador, Getachew Hamussa Hailemariam. "I don't know
why he agreed to meet us. I felt I could have been talking to the
Syrian ambassador about Maher Arar – using innuendo to justify the
unjustifiable."
Waldman has been hired by the family of Bashir Makhtal, a Canadian
citizen who was arrested in late December as he tried to enter Kenya
to escape the civil war in Somalia. He was detained for several
weeks and then deported to Mogadishu, Somalia, and then on to
Ethiopia late in January – one of 30 prisoners taken in handcuffs
and shackles.
Makhtal is alleged to have ties to the Ogaden National Liberation
Front – a separatist group fighting for the independence of ethnic
Somalis in eastern Ethiopia. His grandfather was one of the founders
of the rebel group.
According to Waldman, the ambassador gave him a lecture on the
history of Ethiopia, Ethiopian politics and the current conflicts in
the region. He refused to acknowledge that Makhtal was detained in
his country.
But sources in international human rights groups say Makhtal is, in
fact, in a prison in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. The
London-based human rights group Reprieve in a recent report revealed
it has flight manifests that confirm Makhtal was one of a number of
prisoners deported from Kenya.
The case has an all-too-familiar ring for Waldman, following the
path of the Arar case. Arar's nightmare began when the United States
deported him in 2002 to Syria, where he was held for a year and
tortured.
"You have a third government, in this case Kenya, illegally
deporting a Canadian citizen to a third country with a poor human
rights record," said Waldman.
Waldman tried to meet Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay
yesterday as well, but was not successful.
In a letter he sent to MacKay late last week, Waldman asked the
Canadian government "to formally protest the illegal deportation" of
Makhtal from Kenya to Ethiopia; to request that the United Nations
Refugee Agency obtain protection for Makhtal since he is a
recognized refugee; and that the Canadian government formally
protest the Ethiopian government's conduct and treatment of Makhtal.
Waldman is also asking that MacKay instruct officials at the
Department of Foreign Affairs to co-operate with him and Makhtal's
family in their efforts to get Makhtal freed.
He also wants Ethiopia to acknowledge that Makhtal is being held in
detention, the name of the prison and to allow consular access to
Canadian officials. And he wants Foreign Affairs to help Makhtal get
legal representation in Ethiopia.
The longer that Makhtal is held incommunicado the worse Waldman
fears it will be for him.
Source: Toronto Star
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Do all the
good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you
can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to
all the people you can, as long as ever you can.
by John
Wesley |
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