Bashir Makhtal

[xiinfaniin]

Saaka waa subax Jemca ah, and the month of July waa 18. In Allaah Makhtal Gacanta xabishada ka sii daayo waa maalin Jemce oo in la aqbalaa laga yaabaye soo duceeya yaa jamaacah!

 

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Group worries execution close for Canadian held in Ethiopian jail

 

Friday, July 18, 2008

 

A community group in Ottawa is worried that time is running out for a Canadian man who has been held an Ethiopian jail for 18 months.

 

Group members are worried that former Toronto resident, Bashir Makhtal, 36, might soon face execution.

 

Makhtal was arrested in Kenya almost two years ago when he fled there to escape the civil war in Somalia.

 

He was later sent back to Somalia, and from there sent to an Ethiopian prison.

 

There is now word from his family that Ethiopian officials are trying to force him to confess to acts of terrorism.

 

Such a confession could result in the death penalty, said Fowsia Abdulkadir, a member of the group working to help Makhtal.

 

Group members fear he could be executed as early as next week.

 

"This is a Canadian citizen who has been held illegally. He has been rendered from Kenya illegally and has not seen … any court process," Abdulkadir said.

 

"Makhtal has been in custody incommunicado — he wasn't allowed access for family or for Canadian officials or a lawyer. He has not been allowed to communicate with anybody.

 

"He pretty much could have been tortured. We don't know," Abdulkadir said.

 

Makhtal's story has galvanized the Somali community across Canada.

 

An ethnic Somali, Makhtal is an Ethiopian-born Canadian citizen who was trying to start a business in Somalia when Ethiopia invaded in 2006.

 

His family said he wants to meet with his lawyer and the Canadian High Commission.

 

Source: CBC, July 18, 2008

[Ducaysane]

One of my distance relative has been released from Ethiopian prison last month. He was captured in Nairobi. according to pple who talked to him, He said that the CIA were the ones who interrogated him and finally let him go. a lot of Somalis were in those jails he said. especially OG folks. very disturbing.

[Faarax-Brawn]

Xiin, IA Bashir and the rest of the innocent brothers and sisters captured will be released.

 

I know the Kenya Legislation led by Faarax Macalim aka Dawara ,the Council of Imaams and the supreme council of muslims in kenya are doing everything they can to release all those that were illegally renditined to Ethiopia.

 

I think they recently won a high court order that has asked Kibaki to bring them back.

 

This issue(and the general islamic environment) was partly responsible for the US letting Kibaki steal the election in Dec. :mad:

[xiinfaniin]

It will be Kheyr IA, Faarax & Ducaysane.

[Haneefah]

It is indeed youm jumca, may Allah accept our duas br Xiinow. Not a day goes by that I don't think of his plight - it sends a painful shock through my spine. Allah Macana.

 

Just a week or so ago, another member of this family has been abducted by the gov't from a Jigjiga jail where he had been incarcerated with other family members for months prior to his abduction. Reerku are truly paying for their name and the values they uphold.

[Faarax-Brawn]

Originally posted by Haneefah:

It is indeed youm jumca, may Allah accept our duas br Xiinow. Not a day goes by that I don't think of his plight - it sends a painful shock through my spine. Allah Macana.

 

Just a week or so ago, another member of this family has been abducted by the gov't from a Jigjiga jail where he had been incarcerated with other family members for months prior to his abduction. Reerku are truly paying for their name and the values they uphold.

Hard times require hard sacrifices and with Sabr,allah will IA reward him and his family. He & his family along with the rest who are suffering for a good cause: To fee our people of the gumestaha.

 

Swahiliga waxee dhahaan, Malipo hapa duniani,akhera hesabu.(Translationka loosely says that akhira ayaa lagu xisabtama ee adunka waa lagu kala baxaa) or something along that line.

 

Xiin---Duly noted bro.

[xiinfaniin]

Haneefa, my good sister, IA Bashir will be free either way--go find me Ibnu Taymiya's famous & profitable quote.

[Blessed]

^Indeed. He was a man of deep understanding...

 

“What can my enemies possibly do to me? My paradise is in my heart; wherever I go it goes with me, insepa­rable from me. For me, prison is a place of (religious) retreat; ex­ecution is my opportunity for martyrdom; and exile from my town is but a chance to travel.”

Ibn Taymiyah.

[Faarax-Brawn]

^That quote always gives me chills

 

Thanks

*(waan chidadhacoday,walaal). Xaax, a bit teary eyed*

[xiinfaniin]

Many thanks to the Blessed one...it must borne in mind that great Ibnu T finally died in his cell...and at his jinaazah, hundreds of thousands came out to pray for him.

 

Farah, google Ibnu Taymiya's letters if you get a chance adeer...he was truelly an entellectual and a man of religion and deep seated values. For that I love him...

 

Bashir, dead or a live, just like the late Makhtal, will be on the lead verses of History’s chapters IA, and not a mere footnote, as it were, for this great struggle!

[Haneefah]

^a very timely reminder walal, may Allah bless the great scholar's soul...bas khalas, dhib wuxuu jiraa markuu dhiig yimaado, sabarku aad buu adagyahay - after all, a fragile banu adam umbaad tahay. Dhinac uun ha udhacdo umbaad leedahay, and pray to God for dhinca san.

 

Farax, InshAllah br

[xiinfaniin]

Canada granted access to Canadian detained for year and a half in Ethiopia

 

THE CANADIAN PRESS

Jim Bronskill

 

 

OTTAWA - After 18 months of fruitless effort, Canadian officials in Ethiopia have succeeded in visiting a former Toronto man held under mysterious circumstances in an Addis Ababa jail.

 

The Foreign Affairs Department said Monday that diplomats in the East African country saw imprisoned Canadian Bashir Makhtal last Friday. "Canadian officials were able to verify Mr. Makhtal's well-being during our recent consular visit," Foreign Affairs spokesman Shaun Tinkler said in an email response to questions from The Canadian Press.

 

"We will continue to press Ethiopian authorities to ensure that we are provided with regular consular access."

 

Lorne Waldman, Makhtal's lawyer, said Foreign Affairs told him of the visit but provided him no details. "We haven't been given a report about what transpired during the meeting."

 

Waldman has long been worried by unofficial reports from Ethiopia that Makhtal has already appeared before a military court where he will face trial.

 

"The military courts are notorious for their lack of due process," Waldman said Monday.

 

Tinkler said the department "has not been advised of any criminal charges filed against Mr. Makhtal by Ethiopian authorities."

 

Belay Kidane, first counsellor at the Ethiopian Embassy in Ottawa, had no comment on the case Monday, calling it an "issue of national security for us."

 

Makhtal, a Canadian citizen born in Ethiopia, came to Canada as a refugee and later moved to Kenya, where he opened a used-clothing business.

 

He was on business in Somalia during an invasion by Ethiopian troops in late 2006. Makhtal fled back to Kenya, but was detained along with several others at the Kenya-Somalia border.

 

There have been suggestions he is of interest to the Ethiopian government due to his grandfather's involvement in a separatist group in the country's ****** region.

 

New York-based organization Human Rights Watch says Makhtal was among at least 34 people deported to Somalia from Kenya on Jan. 20, 2007, aboard an African Express Airways flight to Mogadishu.

 

Makhtal was later shipped to Ethiopia, and Canadian officials have tried repeatedly to see him - efforts that did not pay off until last Friday.

 

Human Rights Watch maintains that beginning in late December 2006, Kenyan security forces arrested at least 150 people of some 18 different nationalities at border crossing points with Somalia. These individuals were then detained in and around Nairobi for periods that violated Kenyan law, the group says.

 

While held in Nairobi, intelligence officials, including American authorities, interrogated several foreign nationals, Human Rights Watch said. Subsequent deportations on a series of special flights amounted to a joint removal of individuals of "interest to the Somali, Ethiopian or U.S. governments."

 

But for more than a year there have been more questions than answers about Makhtal's case.

 

"There's never been any official acknowledgment that he's been charged," Waldman said.

 

"Bashir's family has tried repeatedly to get a lawyer to see him, and every effort has been rebuffed."

 

Calgary MP Deepak Obhrai, the parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, expressed Canadian concern over the case during a March visit to Ethiopia.

 

But access to Makhtal continued to be denied.

 

Waldman is heartened by the fact Canadian officials have now visited Makhtal in prison, but he criticized Ottawa for being too timid.

 

"I'm very grateful that as a result of all the hard work of the consular officials, they've been able to achieve access for Bashir, but I think it would have happened sooner and we would be far further down the road if there had been a more aggressive intervention."

 

Waldman has long argued that Canada should use its generous aid to Ethiopia as a means of ensuring co-operation in Makhtal's case.

 

Source: CP, July 23, 2008

[The Zack]

Thats very good news. Insha'allah he will be released soon. I agree with waldman Canada needs to be more aggressive and tell Ethiopia in caydha laga jari if they dont listen to their aid provider.

[ilax]

Xiin , that is a good news for all peace lovers of somali in ****** and our Somalian brothers. Bashir Maktal, hope fully will have his freedom soon, IA,. He is a son og a great leader, ilaah baa wayne.Let us hope, B.Makhtal will be freed sooner, IA.

[Abtigiis]

Insha-allah, He will be out of the jail of the oppressors soon. Pray for him.