Toronto, 28 November 2007 - A Canadian citizen who has been detained in Ethiopia for the past 10 months without being charged is suing the government there and its officials for "violations of international law, assault, battery, false arrest and false imprisonment."

The statement of claim, which was filed in Ontario's Superior Court of Justice late last week, names Warqine Gabayo, the head of the Ethiopian police, and Taadese Masareti, the head of the prison where Bashir Makhtal is being detained.
 
The statement of claim, which was filed in Ontario's Superior Court of Justice late last week, names Warqine Gabayo, the head of the Ethiopian police, and Taadese Masareti, the head of the prison where Bashir Makhtal is being detained.

The suit claims that Ethiopia "is illegally holding" Makhtal and is "subjecting him to torture and other forms of cruel and inhumane treatment." According to the statement of claim, Makhtal has been held "incommunicado" for more than nine months, and he has not been charged with any offence. Nor has he been brought before a court of law.

None of the allegations in the lawsuit has been proven in a court of law. Makhtal was rendered to Ethiopia in January after being detained for three weeks in Nairobi by Kenyan officials.

 
According to the lawsuit, Makhtal had been travelling in Somalia, selling used clothes, when the Ethiopian Army invaded that country. He has been held in the Central Investigation Detention Centre in Addis Ababa ever since.

It is believed Makhtal was of interest to the Ethiopian government because of his grandfather's connection to the Ogaden separatist movement. 

The Conservative government's hardline position in the case of Ronald Smith -- the only Canadian on death row in the U.S. -- is risking the lives of two other Canadians facing possible execution in China and Ethiopia, a Liberal MP charged in the House of Commons yesterday.

"Will they seek clemency for Chen Naizhi, a Canadian citizen convicted in China, who faces a death sentence for car smuggling?" asked Sue Barnes, the Liberal public safety critic. "How can they have any credibility on this issue after choosing not to seek clemency for a Canadian citizen now facing the death penalty in Montana?"

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, who has emerged as the government's chief defender of its recent decision to stop fighting for the lives of Canadian death-row inmates in "democratic" countries, responded: "With respect to the case in China, we'll have a close look at that."

Source: Jimma Times