(Medeshi)- Saturday , March 30, 2013 – a meeting for the release of Bashir Makhtal from Ethiopian prison was held in Ottawa last night. Participants in the meeting included members of the Somali community in Ottawa , the minister of foreign affairs of Canada Mr. John Baird , the head of Amnesty International in Canada Mr. Alex Neve and the wife and the brother of Bashir Makhtal.
Mr. Bashir has been in Ethiopian prison for the last 6 years for allegedly supporting terrorism in the Ogaden area and faces the death penalty. The community members and the attending dignitaries have called upon the Ethiopian government to immediately release Mr. Makhtal from prison and return his freedom to him without delay as Mr. Maktal has not been involved in any crime either in Ethiopia or Somalia.
Background :
Bashir Ahmed Makhtal is a Canadian citizen held in an Ethiopian prison, where he is accused of terrorism and faces the death penalty.
It is alleged that he is being held against international law, but he has been frequently visited by Canadian embassy officials in Ethiopia and received lawyer support as he appeared in court. The Canadian government's initial inaction on demanding his repatriation has galvanized some parts of the Somali community across Canada, and attracted the attention of Amnesty International. But some people inside Bashir Makhtal's own ethnic Somali community say that he was an active member of the ONLF, which Ethiopia says is an illegal and terrorist group.
Bashir was born in Ethiopia. His grandfather founded the rebel group Ogaden National Liberation Front, which Ethiopia labels a terrorist organization like al Qaida. Makhtal fled war-torn Somalia in 1972. In 1991, he immigrated to Canada and studied Computer Science at the DeVry Institute of Technology while living in Riverdale, Toronto. He then traveled to Texas to complete his bachelor's degree. In 1994 he was granted Canadian citizenship, and was employed as a computer programmer by the Bank of Montreal and CIBC.
In 2002, Makhtal began traveling, to the United Arab Emirates, and then across the Horn of Africa, selling clothing to support himself as he went across Djibouti, Kenya, Eritrea and finally found himself back in Somalia.
When Ethiopia militarily intervened in Somalia in 2006 to help the Transitional government against radical Islamist insurgents, Canadian Foreign Affairs advised Canadians in the country to flee the impending war. Makhtal flew to neighbouring Kenya, but was arrested during the flight and, although granted access to attorney Haron Ndubi during three weeks of detention in Nairobi, was allegedly illegally renditioned to the Ethiopian-backed government in Somalia, and from there directly to Ethiopia
