He's spent 3 years and $60,000 to get government to help Bashir Makhtal – serving a life sentence in Ethiopia for terrorism – return home to Canada
It has been a tough road for Said Maktal.
For almost three years, he has faced emotional and financial difficulties as he has championed the cause of his cousin, Bashir Makhtal, a Canadian serving a life sentence in Ethiopia for terrorist activities.
But, along the way, Said Maktal – who spells his surname differently from his cousin – has learned how to talk to cabinet ministers, meet with foreign affairs officials, hold press conferences, meet with human-rights activists and organize protests.
With an appeal of his cousin's case pending, Maktal remains optimistic that one day his cousin, who he insists is innocent, will be released and returned to Canada.His cousin was convicted earlier this year in Ethiopia of being a member of a separatist group, engaging in an armed struggle against the Ethiopian government, and aiding and abetting the Islamic Courts Union, a religious alliance that seized control of Somalia before it was toppled by U.S. and Ethiopian forces.
Bashir Makhtal, an ethnic Somali born in Ethiopia's Ogaden region, was a resident of Toronto until 2001, when he left Canada to start a used-clothing business. If his appeal is denied, he faces life in prison. His only possible chance of freedom is a pardon one day from the Ethiopian government or expulsion to Canada in an attempt to buy favour in Ottawa.
For Maktal, the past three years have been all about doing what's right for his cousin, a man he admired and who was like an older brother to him.
The 37-year-old Maktal, who came to Canada in 1996, is a very different person from the eager young lab technician who was first alerted to his cousin's plight by calls from his family in December 2006 and January 2007.
They informed Maktal his cousin had been arrested by Kenyan authorities in late December 2006 as he tried to cross the border from Somalia – where he had been in Mogadishu on business – to be reunited with his wife in Nairobi. He was subsequently sent to Ethiopia. These events occurred after the Ethiopians and Americans invaded Somalia in 2006 to oust the Islamic Courts Union.
Supporters and family members say Bashir Makhtal's only apparent crime seems to be that he is the grandson of the founder of the Ogaden National Liberation Front, a group dedicated to winning independence for the oil-rich region of Ethiopia.
Federal Transport Minister John Baird, who had been working on the case, has expressed disappointment in Makhtal's conviction, and said in August the government was looking at several options to help.
Maktal began the campaign to free his cousin with complete naïveté about the Canadian political system, foreign policy or international human rights.
"To be honest, when I started this case, I didn't know what to do," Maktal said in an interview. "I was so frustrated. ... I ended up going to my local MP, Wayne Marston. When I went there, I didn't know how to approach it, what to say. My biggest dilemma was always, are they going to believe me?"
Back in 2007, Maktal met with foreign affairs officials for the first time and he was nervous, he recalls. He didn't know how to approach them or how to prove his cousin's case. He didn't know what to say; nor did he know very well the political landscape or the effectiveness of lobbying. These were all lessons he would quickly learn.
"You never know what to say," he recalls. "You haven't been trained. Obviously, you're dealing with government people. You have to address the case in a certain way. ... Every time I got those goose bumps, I'm thinking `okay, what's going to happen?'"
With the help of some politicians, activists from Amnesty International, members of the Somali community and human-rights lawyer Lorne Waldman, Maktal has managed to keep his cousin's name and case alive when many others have gone by the wayside.
And the battle continues. As long as his cousin remains in an Ethiopian prison, Maktal will continue to champion his case.
He has spent close to $60,000 on legal fees for his cousin, both here and in Ethiopia. Some of it was his own or his family's money, or money borrowed from the bank; some of it came from fundraising efforts. The most recent fundraiser was held last weekend in Toronto.
Maktal, who is married and has three young children, has lived and breathed the case, giving up work days to stage protests in Ottawa or to meet with foreign affairs officials. He has had to suffer the sidelong glances of some who still doubt his cousin's innocence.
"Even today, it's hard for me to convince people (Bashir) is innocent," he said.
Maktal has lost income and time with his children and wife (whom he credits with helping him get through the ordeal) to help draw attention to the case and push Ottawa to act to free his cousin.
"I'm a poor man struggling to raise a family. But I don't see those difficulties 'cause I see him sitting there (in jail). I know what he had to go through. I was the only hope he had."
Source: Thestar.com
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