Debra Black Staff Reporter (Toronto Star)  — Canada’s Transport Minister John Baird has travelled to Ethiopia to lobby on behalf of a detained Canadian citizen.
Baird, MP for Ottawa West-Nepean, is in Addis Ababa for a mere 24 hours Wednesday to meet with Ethiopian officials about the case of Bashir Makhtal, a former Toronto man who has been convicted by an Ethiopian court and has been in jail there for just over three years.
Baird’s office confirmed late Tuesday night that he will be meeting with Ethiopia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Seyoum Mesfin, as well as Canada’s ambassador to Ethiopia.
But in the most extraordinary development, Baird is also slated to meet with Makhtal himself. And his office assured the Star that the meeting will take place.
In recent months Baird, who has a significant Somali population in his Ottawa riding, has been handling the case of Makhtal, an ethnic Somali who was arrested on the Kenya-Somali border in December 2006 and then rendered to Ethiopia in shackles on a top-secret flight at the beginning of 2007. He was held incommunicado for about 18 months before he was allowed to see either a lawyer or Canadian consular officials.
He was convicted of terrorism last summer, but his family members here have maintained his innocence, suggesting the Ethiopian court was not fair and that the government was only interested in Makhtal because he is the grandson of one of the co-founders of the Ogaden National Liberation Front.
Earlier this year Lawrence Cannon, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, was also in Addis Ababa during the African Union Summit. During the summit he met with Ethiopian officials, including the Ethiopian Prime Minister, His Excellency Meles Zenawi, as well as the foreign affairs minister.
According to Foreign Affairs, Cannon discussed the Makhtal case with the foreign affairs minister, pressing for his human rights to be respected and for continued consular access.
Makhtal’s family here is relieved to hear Baird is in Ethiopia to press officials on his behalf. His cousin, Said Maktal (who spells his name differently), told the Star Wednesday: “This trip was what I have been waiting for.â€
He added he sincerely hopes Baird can help bring his “brother†home.
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Source: Toronto Star
