Bashir Ahmed Makhtal ( so, Bashiir Axmed Makhtal) is a
Canadian citizen formerly held in an Ethiopian prison, where he was accused of terrorism and faced the
death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
.
The Canadian government was criticized by several groups for its initial inaction on demanding Makhal's release, including
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
.
Biography
Makhtal was born in
Ethiopia to Somali parents, who had fled war-torn
Somalia in 1972.
His grandfather was a founder of the rebel group
Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), which is classified as a
terrorist organization by Ethiopia. In 1991, Bashir immigrated to
Toronto,
Canada, where he studied
computer science at the
DeVry Institute of Technology, later completing his bachelor's degree in
Texas.
[Friends and Family of Bashir Makhtal]
Biography of Bashir Makhtal
In 1994 he was granted Canadian citizenship, and was employed as a computer programmer by the
Bank of Montreal
The Bank of Montreal (BMO; french: Banque de Montréal, link=no) is a Canadian multinational investment bank and financial services company.
The bank was founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1817 as Montreal Bank; while its head office remains in ...
and
CIBC.
In 2002, Makhtal travelled to the
United Arab Emirates, from which he travelled to
Djibouti,
Kenya,
Eritrea
Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...
, and
Somalia, selling clothing to support himself.
In 2006, after Ethiopia's
militarily intervention in Somalia, Canadian
Foreign Affairs
''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...
advised Canadians in Somalia to flee the impending conflict.
Makhtal flew to neighboring Kenya, but was arrested during the flight. After spending three weeks in
Nairobi jail,
Makhtal was
extraordinarily renditioned to the Ethiopian-backed government in
Somalia, which extradited him to
Ethiopia.
[ CBC,]
Group worries execution close for Canadian held in Ethiopian jail
", July 17, 2008 Makhtal was accused of being a member of the ONLF based on the prior membership of his grandfather,
as well as collaborating with the Somali terrorist group
al-Shabab. The Ethiopian government denied Makhtal representation in court by his Canadian lawyer, saying that Makhtal was already being represented by an Ethiopian lawyer. The Ethiopian court found Makhtal guilty of being a member of the ONLF and working with the Eritrean government to organize the financing, recruiting, and training of ONLF militants. Several reports claimed that Makhtal was tortured by interrogators while in prison,
though the Ethiopian government denied this. In June 2007 he was able to have a letter delivered to his family.
Throughout Makhtal's imprisonment, many people in Canada, including Makhal's family, called for his release. Makhtal's wife, Aziza Osman, campaigned for both his release and that of her uncle, who faced a similar renditioning. In August 2009, Makhtal's Canadian lawyer announced that he would sue the Canadian government to force it to halt aid to
Ethiopia unless Makhtal was released. In December 2009, after the Ethiopian Supreme Court rejected Makhtal's appeal, his relatives in Canada asked Canadian Prime Minister
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...
to directly intervene in the case.
On April 18, 2018, Makhtal was released from prison, and returned to
Canada on April 21.
Reactions
Canada
At the time of Maktal's imprisonment, the ruling
Conservative Party was accused by the
NDP and the
Liberal party of not aiding non-white Canadians imprisoned in foreign countries.
After being assured of Maktal's well-being in March 2008, the Canadian government sent
Deepak Obhrai,
Parliamentary Secretary to the
Minister of Foreign Affairs, to
Ethiopia in June to inquire about Maktal's situation.
mirror
/ref> In February 2009, the Canadian government announced that it would seek Makhtal's release.[ Vancouver Sun]
Conservatives pressure Ethiopia to free jailed Canadian
, February 23, 2009
Ethiopia
Responding to accusations of human rights violations, the Ethiopian government accused Western countries of not condemning the attacks of the Ogaden National Liberation Front.
See also
* Human rights in Ethiopia
* Ogaden National Liberation Front
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Makhtal, Bashir
1977 births
Living people
Canada–Ethiopia relations
Canadian Muslims
Canadian people imprisoned abroad
Canadian torture victims
Ethiopian torture victims
People imprisoned on charges of terrorism
People subject to extraordinary rendition by the United States
Prisoners and detainees of Ethiopia