Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Mr Makhtal risks the death penalty when sentence is handed down next week.
He is accused as well of supporting Somalia's Islamist movement. He was among about 150 people arrested by Kenyan forces in 2006 along the border with Somalia as they tried to escape Ethiopia's military campaign to oust the Islamists who had seized power in Mogadishu.
However, Canadians want their government to have him rescued.
Canadian Toronto human rights lawyer, Lorne Waldman, said Makhtal did not get a fair trial and Ethiopian justice system is nothing more than a "kangaroo court."
The only hope for Bashir is "a very forceful intervention by the Canadian government on his behalf, demanding he be repatriated back to Canada," Waldman said.
Canadian Somali community are also urging an immediate involvement of Canadian top leadership on the issue.
The community members are organising various events to influence the Canadian authorities but Canadian government remains silent on the issue.
He was arrested in 2006 as he was trying to cross the border between Kenya and Somalia after fleeing violence in Mogadishu and being in jail for the last two and half years.
Makhtal denied in court any affiliation with the armed separatist movement known as the Ogaden National Liberation Front, which is fighting for the autonomy of Somali speaking eastern Ogaden region.
The group is considered a terrorist organisation by the Ethiopian government.
Bashir Makthal is the grandson of one of the founders of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF).
Source: Daily Nation, July 29, 2009