Somali-Canadian's 'terrorism' trial widely criticized by human rights groups

CAMPBELL CLARK

Ottawa, Canada, August 8, 2009 – The Canadian government summoned an Ethiopian diplomat to a meeting in Ottawa to press for the release of Bashir Makhtal, the Canadian citizen now under a life sentence.

What is more, Transport Minister John Baird, playing a key role in the government's efforts after he was lobbied by his riding's Somali community, is planning to discuss Mr. Makhtal's case by telephone today with Mr. Makhtal's cousin, Said Maktal.

The government is rebuffing the family's calls for Ottawa to cut off aid to Ethiopia, arguing that would be premature and insisting they will ply diplomatic channels while Bashir Makhtal's lawyer prepares an appeal.

On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon asked officials to summon Abdurahim Ali, the acting head of Ethiopia's embassy in Ottawa, to press for Mr. Makhtal's release and regular consular visits.

"During the meeting, departmental officials communicated that the Government of Canada will continue to explore all options for supporting Bashir and that the Government of Canada will continue to follow the case closely," the Foreign Affairs department said in a statement.

Officials would not say what action the government is seeking from Ethiopia, but they have been urged to seek a pardon, and failing that, to ask Ethiopia to expel him rather than imprison him.

But his cousin and lawyer say they place little hope in an appeal because Ethiopia's courts are not independent; the U.S. State Department's 2008 human rights report on Ethiopia said its judiciary is not truly independent and is subject to political interference.

Said Maktal, who lives in Hamilton and spells his family name differently from Bashir, said the government has long told them to wait until the trial is over, and since he was sentenced to life on Monday, he wants to hear plans for action when he speaks to Mr. Baird today.

"Now the fact that he's been sentenced, I'm hoping that they will come up with something."

Bashir Makhtal's life sentence on terrorism-related charges was issued after a trial that was widely criticized by human-rights activists. His family says he was charged not because of his own activities, but because his grandfather was one of the founding members of the Ogaden National Liberation Front, a separatist movement.

The former Toronto resident, born in Eastern Ethiopia but raised from the age of 11 in Somalia, came to Canada in 1991 as a refugee and has been a citizen since 1994.

In 2002, he returned to Africa to start a business selling used clothes. In December 2006, he returned to Somalia on a visit, but Ethiopian troops entered the country, and he was arrested as he fled to the Kenyan border.

Source: Globe and Mail, Aug 05, 2009

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