Detained clothing dealer was ousted from Kenya 'without judicial process' and may now be in danger, his lawyer says

Debra Black, Toronto Star

Canadian citizen Bashir Makhtal was two days away from a court hearing in Nairobi when he was whisked away to Somalia and eventually to Ethiopia, where his life may be in danger, says a lawyer with the East African Human Rights Institute.

Makhtal was held illegally for three weeks at the Gigiri police station in the Kenyan capital and was never told why he had been detained as he attempted to enter Kenya from Somalia, said the lawyer, Haron Ndubi.

Ndubi said Makhtal called him on Saturday to alert him that he was being deported just before he was taken to Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Makhtal, a 38-year-old used-clothing dealer, called him again pleading for help just before he was put on a plane, Ndubi said.

"He was unlawfully deported without judicial process, which is illegal in Kenya."

Ndubi told Makhtal's family that he called the Canadian High Commission immediately to alert them. Someone from the embassy raced to the airport to try to prevent Makhtal from being deported, but was told by airport officials it was too late.

The Department of Foreign Affairs would not confirm or deny those assertions. Spokesperson Rejean Beaulieu repeated Ottawa's position on the case, saying Canada "strongly objects to the deportation of a Canadian citizen to Somalia, particularly because we have issued a travel warning to Somalia."

Local media in Nairobi allege that Makhtal is a member of the Ogaden National Liberation Front, which is fighting for the independence of ethnic Somalis in eastern Ethiopia and is said to be sympathetic to the Somalia Islamist movement. Makhtal's grandfather is said to be one of the founders of the Ogaden group, but relatives in Canada deny Bashir Makhtal is associated with it. Other reports suggest Makhtal was being held because he was suspected of financing the Union of Islamic Courts, the Islamist coalition recently driven out of Mogadishu.

A onetime Toronto computer programmer who worked for both the CIBC and Bank of Montreal, Makhtal was currently in the business of buying used clothes in Nairobi and Dubai and travelling to Somalia, Eritrea and Djibouti to sell them.

He was arrested in late December at Liboi, Kenya, as he tried to flee Somalia.

"He was in Mogadishu when the war broke out," Ndubi explained. "He attempted to cross the border using a Canadian passport and he expected he would be given a visa to go to his family or come back to Canada."

Instead, he was arrested and interrogated by Kenyan officers.

Ndubi plans to file a complaint in the International Court of Justice and the African Court of Justice, asserting that Makhtal was illegally confined and deported. He said in a telephone interview from Nairobi that he will also meet with officials from the Canadian High Commission and International Red Cross today to discuss Makhtal's fate.

It is unclear whether the Ogaden National Liberation Front has any ties with the Union of Islamic Courts, which controlled southern Somalia until recently, said Professor Richard Sandbrook, who teaches African politics at the University of Toronto.

Makhtal's family members here say the long history of animosity between Ethiopians and Ogadeni Somalis leave them fearing for Makhtal's life if he is indeed in Ethiopia.

Ndubi told Canadian officials in a letter yesterday that he believes Makhtal has been handed over to the Ethiopian government and is now in Addis Ababa.

January 24, 2007

Yayacanada