Liibaan Posted February 10, 2010 John Baird's trip heightens diplomatic pressure on Addis Ababa to free Bashir Makhtal Campbell Clark Ottawa — The Globe and Mail Published on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010 3:56PM EST Federal cabinet minister John Baird has jetted to Ethiopia in a bid to secure the release of long-jailed Canadian citizen Bashir Makhtal. The Transport Minister arrived in Addis Ababa this morning and told family members he expects to visit Mr. Makhtal before he leaves Ethiopia late tonight. “I'm hoping that the minister will bring a good result – either bring Bashir back to Canada or some good result,” said Bashir Makhtal's cousin Said Maktal, who lives in Hamilton and spells his last name differently from the imprisoned Canadian. Bashir Makhtal has spent three years in Ethiopian jails on terrorism charges but his family says he is really being punished because grandfather was one of the founders of the separatist ****** National Liberation Front. Said Maktal said it's very unlikely that Ethiopia's government will pardon his cousin, but another option would be for Ottawa to ask Ethiopia to let Bashir Makhtal to serve his sentence in Canada, even though Canada has expressed disappointment at his conviction in a trial that had been criticized by human rights activists. Canadian officials have for months pressed their Ethiopian counterparts to release Bashir Makhtal, and Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon raised the case with Ethiopian officials when he was in Addis Ababa from Jan. 29 to 31 for the African Union summit. But Mr. Baird's trip is the first time a Canadian minister has travelled there expressly to visit Mr. Makhtal and lobby for his release – a step that increases diplomatic pressure. The Transport Minister became involved in the case because he was lobbied through the large Somali-Canadian community in his Ottawa riding. Bashir Makhtal, a former Toronto resident, is an ethnic Somali who was born in Eastern Ethiopia but raised in Somalia from the age of 11 in Somalia until came to Canada in 1991 as a refugee. He has been a Canadian 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. His family says he has never had any involvement in separatist rebel groups, and insists that Ethiopia's government has convicted him because his grandfather was a founder of the ONLF. “They did all this damage because it's the Makhtal family,” said Said Maktal. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Liibaan Posted February 10, 2010 Baird heads to Ethiopia to lobby for Canadian man's release By Louisa Taylor, Ottawa CitizenFebruary 10, 2010 1:03 PM OTTAWA — Federal Transport Minister John Baird is making a lightning trip to Ethiopia Wednesday to personally make the case for the release of Canadian businessman Bashir Makhtal. Makhtal, 41, was sentenced to life in prison last year on terror charges. The former resident of Toronto has long maintained his innocence and has been supported by groups lobbying on his behalf in Ottawa, Toronto and Edmonton. Baird's office confirmed that the MP for Ottawa West-Nepean expects to spend only 24 hours in the capital, Addis Ababa, meeting officials at the Canadian Embassy, visiting Makhtal in prison and meeting the Ethiopian foreign minister. "This is the day I've been waiting for, all these three years," said Said Maktal, Bashir Makhtal's main advocate. Although they spell their names differently, the two men are cousins so close they call themselves brothers. "I hope the government of Ethiopia co-operates with minister Baird and the Government of Canada. I'm very hopeful that Minister Baird will bring my brother back to Canada." Makhtal was arrested in late 2006 crossing the border from Somalia to Kenya. A month later, he was shackled and transferred by airplane to Ethiopia, where he was held incommunicado in a military prison, with no charges, no access to embassy officials and no access to his lawyer, for more than a year. Baird took an interest in Makhtal's case in late 2008, in response to pressure from constituents in his riding. Makhtal was finally charged in early 2009 and sentenced to life in prison following a trial Amnesty International criticized as falling far short of international legal standards. Makhtal's family believes he has been targeted because he is the grandson of one of the founders of an Ethiopian separatist movement. © Copyright © Canwest News Service Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
