Bashir Makhtal Jailed for Life

[Jacaylbaro]

ADDIS ABABA, Aug 3 (Reuters) - An Ethiopian court jailed a Canadian for life on Monday after he was convicted of membership of a separatist rebel group fighting for independence for an ethnically Somali part of the country.

 

Bashir Ahmed Makhtal, who was born in Ethiopia but had travelled to Canada as a refugee and became a Canadian citizen in 1994, was found guilty last week on three charges related to membership of the ****** National Liberation Front (ONLF).

 

"The court has decided against the death penalty which is the maximum penalty for the charges," Judge Adem Ibrahim said at the Federal High Court in capital Addis Ababa. "The court sentences the defendant to life in prison."

 

Bashir, who left Ethiopia aged 11 and does not speak the local Amharic language, did not react as the sentence was read. His lawyer, Gebreamlak Gebregiorgis, told Reuters he would appeal against both the conviction and sentence next week.

 

Ethiopia denounces the ONLF -- which wants independence for the remote eastern ****** region -- as a terrorist group that it says is supported by long-time rival Eritrea.

 

The ONLF accuses the Ethiopian military of routinely killing civilians and burning villages in ******, which borders Somalia.

 

****** is eyed by foreign oil and gas companies who think its huge deserts might be rich in mineral deposits.

 

Analysts say the region's location between the border and Addis Ababa makes the Ethiopian government reluctant to give it up after a long history of hostilities with Somalia.

 

Bashir -- whose grandfather was an ONLF founder -- was arrested in 2006 crossing into Kenya from Somalia after Ethiopian forces invaded Somalia to oust an Islamist movement that had taken control of the capital Mogadishu.

 

The 40-year-old says he ran a second-hand clothing store in Kenya and often visited Mogadishu to buy clothes. He says he was fleeing the fighting after the invasion.

 

Bashir's family says he was subsequently detained in secret in Ethiopia for more than two years and denied consular visits. Canadian officials have attended his trial hearings.

 

Human rights groups have criticised the trial and say the prosecution failed to produce any credible witnesses. Bashir's supporters say he was arrested because of his family's ONLF links. They say he was never a member of the guerrilla group.

 

The Ethiopian government denies his trial was unfair.

[Jacaylbaro]

Reuters

[Muriidi]

i thought makhtal was one of the founders of S.Y.L.

[Abtigiis]

This is a sad news. But we also know the Ethiopian regime usually sentences people with life and death penalties and later offers pardons. It is my hunch Meles wants to grant pardon at some stage to appease Canada.

 

Even if he doesn't, TPLF's years are numbered. He will come out a national hero like his forefathers.

 

Long live ONLF! Long live the dream!

[Peace Action]

This is very sad. When will Africans learn you can't jail ideas and peoples will for life. The Somalis in Canada should lobby the Canadian govt for the release of Bashir Nakhtal as political prsioner.

[Abtigiis]

Speaking of prisnors, last week I read a sort of 'positive news' posted in tribal www.Kilil5.com website about the nominal head of security in Jigjiga. They said he visited and discussed on their situation with 1900 inmates in jigjiga's JeelOga.den This is only one of five maximum security prisions. Infact, this particluar jail was built for a maximum capacity of 200 prisnors.

 

And it is not even the worst. So, you can see how bad are things up there.

[Kamaavi]

[The Zack]

He will be out soon insha'allah. In Ethiopia, life sentence = "till the current regime collapses" and this regime is about to do that soon.

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

ilahay u gargaaro miskiinkaas

[Abwaan]

Itoobiya and gacan-ku-dhiigleyaas ha u taliya awal ma asxaan baa sugeysey?

[Taleexi]

Rabbi ha u fududeeyo, ameen.

[Abu-Salman]

dp

[Abu-Salman]

Why don't those who are passionate about Islam, justice or patriotism, to the extent of aligning themselves with controversial outfits, fundraise instead for self-defence, uncontroversial groups directly engaging our most cruel ennemy, especially when this could be done in all legality accross the West?

 

What are the fatwas or Ulamas consensus concerning the ONLF and consorts?

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

I just came to realize that his sister is married to my cousin. Soomaalida isku wada dhawaa. Poor brother, Eebba ha u sahlo xaalkiisa.

________________

 

A Canadian's ordeal

 

The trial of Bashir Makhtal fit the stereotype of a kangaroo court: dubious facts presented without cross examination, a dearth of witnesses for the defence, and a verdict that confirmed the government's suspicions. At the end of it, the former Toronto resident was convicted on terrorism-related charges and condemned to life in prison in one of Ethiopia's overcrowded and pestilent jails.

 

Makhtal, a Canadian citizen, has suffered more than two years of ill treatment – including arbitrary arrest, interrogation and solitary confinement. Transport Minister John Baird's behind-the-scenes advocacy and Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon's prompt protest against the life sentence are signs that Ottawa understands his plight. Now it should move at the highest levels to press Ethiopia, at the very least, to accept Makhtal's appeal while negotiating an exit strategy that would allow him to be released for time served or transferred to Canadian authorities.

 

Canada has the clout to do so. Ethiopia is one of Canada's main aid recipients, with about $90 million a year sent to Addis Ababa for programs that range from vital food security projects to voter education. Ironically, some of the money has gone to humanizing the court system, a process that clearly has a long way to go. Makhtal's Canadian lawyer has filed a suit to limit non-humanitarian aid to Ethiopia.

 

There's little doubt that Makhtal has been denied proper justice. Arrested in 2006 while re-entering Kenya after a business trip, he was caught up in Ethiopia's war on the Islamist regime in Somalia. Deported to Ethiopia, he was kept in solitary confinement, refused contact with Canadian officials, and stripped of his Canadian passport.

 

Makhtal's surname – he is the grandson of a founder of an ethnic Somali separatist movement based in Ethiopia's ****** region – may have marked him as an Ethiopian enemy. Makhtal's Canadian lawyer says his client is no more than "a pawn in some political game."

 

There's scant evidence that he was given a chance to prove his innocence in his trial. Both the U.S. State Department and Amnesty International have expressed serious doubts about the independence of Ethiopia's courts.

 

The Harper government says it will "continue to explore all options" for supporting Makhtal. It should do so urgently.

 

Today's

Toronto Star

editorial.