(AFP) – ADDIS ABABA — An Ethiopian-born Canadian citizen was found guilty in a court in Ethiopia Monday of terror-related charges that could see him sentenced to death.
Bashir Makhtal was convicted on three charges mainly of inciting rebellion by aiding and abetting armed opposition groups in Ethiopia and being a senior member of a rebel group.
The 40-year-old man, who has denied the charges, is also accused of supporting Somalia's Islamist movement ousted by Ethiopian forces in early 2007 when they intervened in the neighbouring country to prop up its embattled transition government.
Ethiopia's high court is scheduled to hand down his sentence on August 3.
"We will definitely launch an appeal after the sentencing on Monday. We will work on it," his lawyer Gebreamlak Gebregiorgis told AFP in an interview.
Makhtal was among some 150 people detained by Kenyan forces in 2006 on the border with Somalia as they fled the Ethiopian onslaught on the Islamist insurgents.
The trial had been postponed several times this year due to prosecutors' failure to provide witnesses.
EDITORS NOTE:
Few things the Canadian government should do regarding this case:
First, The prime minister of Ethiopia Mr. Meles zenawi by himself was a rebel leader for 17 years who participated in a lot of atrocities, including bank robbery and kidnapping of foreign citizens.
TPLF the ruling party in Ethiopia, is still on the list of CIA terrorist lists.
This verdict is a joke cumming from a terrorist organization that never had an amnesty in a real court of law.
In this case the Canadian government should
1. request the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. makthal in a specific time frame.
2.Suspend all diplomatic ties with the current ruling party in Ethiopia, including suspending all visa to the officials of the current government.
3.Work with other donor countries to pressure the TPLF to be diplomatically and financially isolated, until all political prisoners are freed in Ethiopia.
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