Friday, Jan. 20 is the fifth anniversary of the day the Kenyan government illegally put a Canadian citizen on a plane to Ethiopia. Bashir Makhtal is still in an Ethiopian prison, serving a life sentence for allegedly supporting an armed group. No credible evidence against him has ever come to light. His trial was unfair and he was not allowed access to consular support for more than a year.
Conservative MP John Baird has been working on this case since before he became foreign affairs minister. It has not been enough. The prime minister must remind Ethiopia in no uncertain terms that Canada has not forgotten about Makhtal, or about the Ethiopian government's other rights abuses.
Makhtal, who has been a Canadian citizen since 1994, was working as a trader in Mogadishu when Ethiopia invaded Somalia in 2006. Makhtal fled to the Kenyan border, where he was detained and, a few weeks later, sent to Ethiopia. Although Makhtal was born in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, he was carrying a Canadian passport. Ethiopia's interest in him stems from his heritage; his grandfather was a founder of the Ogaden National Liberation Front.
Friday at 1 p.m., supporters of Makhtal, including his cousin and representatives of Amnesty International Canada, will hold a vigil at the Langevin Block on Wellington Street.
Makhtal's lawyer, Lorne Waldman, has argued in an application to the Federal Court that Canada should stop sending aid to Ethiopia to the tune of about $170 million a year. He makes a good case. Ethiopia is one of CIDA's "countries of focus" that are supposed to get the bulk of Canadian bilateral aid dollars. Reports from the group Human Rights Watch have accused Ethiopia of using aid money to repress its citizens. Of course the people of Ethiopia shouldn't suffer because its government has violated the rights of a Canadian. But there might be ways to help the people of Ethiopia without helping its repressive government, especially given that its government continues to insult Canada over the Makhtal case.
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Remember+Makhtal/6023798/story.html#ixzz1k0K1EHtS
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