Lawyer Lorne Waldman met with the Ethiopian ambassador in Ottawa yesterday to discuss the detention of a Canadian citizen and felt like he did when he tried to free another Canadian – Maher Arar – from imprisonment in Syria.
"It was very strange," said Waldman of his meeting with the Ethiopian Ambassador, Getachew Hamussa Hailemariam. "I don't know why he agreed to meet us. I felt I could have been talking to the Syrian ambassador about Maher Arar – using innuendo to justify the unjustifiable."
Waldman has been hired by the family of Bashir Makhtal, a Canadian citizen who was arrested in late December as he tried to enter Kenya to escape the civil war in Somalia. He was detained for several weeks and then deported to Mogadishu, Somalia, and then on to Ethiopia late in January – one of 30 prisoners taken in handcuffs and shackles.
Makhtal is alleged to have ties to the Ogaden National Liberation Front – a separatist group fighting for the independence of ethnic Somalis in eastern Ethiopia. His grandfather was one of the founders of the rebel group.
According to Waldman, the ambassador gave him a lecture on the history of Ethiopia, Ethiopian politics and the current conflicts in the region. He refused to acknowledge that Makhtal was detained in his country.
But sources in international human rights groups say Makhtal is, in fact, in a prison in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. The London-based human rights group Reprieve in a recent report revealed it has flight manifests that confirm Makhtal was one of a number of prisoners deported from Kenya.
The case has an all-too-familiar ring for Waldman, following the path of the Arar case. Arar's nightmare began when the United States deported him in 2002 to Syria, where he was held for a year and tortured.
"You have a third government, in this case Kenya, illegally deporting a Canadian citizen to a third country with a poor human rights record," said Waldman.
Waldman tried to meet Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay yesterday as well, but was not successful.
In a letter he sent to MacKay late last week, Waldman asked the Canadian government "to formally protest the illegal deportation" of Makhtal from Kenya to Ethiopia; to request that the United Nations Refugee Agency obtain protection for Makhtal since he is a recognized refugee; and that the Canadian government formally protest the Ethiopian government's conduct and treatment of Makhtal.
Waldman is also asking that MacKay instruct officials at the Department of Foreign Affairs to co-operate with him and Makhtal's family in their efforts to get Makhtal freed.
He also wants Ethiopia to acknowledge that Makhtal is being held in detention, the name of the prison and to allow consular access to Canadian officials. And he wants Foreign Affairs to help Makhtal get legal representation in Ethiopia.
The longer that Makhtal is held incommunicado the worse Waldman fears it will be for him.
