Somali deportee's life at risk: father

Abdi Farah says sending his son to Mogadishu is akin to a death sentence.

A Somali-born man who came to Ottawa at the age of five will be deported back to his country of birth this weekend, but which part of the country he lands in can mean the difference between life and death, his father says.

Omar Ahmed, 25, a former student at Ridgemont High School, has been in prison for a year since signing a paper acknowledging that he was once a member of the Ledbury-Banff Crips street gang in Ottawa.

To get out of prison, Ahmed signed another letter agreeing to be deported.

His father, Abdi Farah, said the family has come to terms with his deportation, but they are afraid for his safety in Somalia.

He said the most important thing now is where in Somalia Canadian officials choose to send him.

No part of Somalia can truly be called stable. But there's a world of difference between the north of the country and the chaos and bloodletting that have racked southern and central Somalia for 20 years.

'You go to Mogadishu you may get shot'

Abdi Farah said Thursday that sending his son to Mogadishu is akin to a death sentence.

"You know Somalia. It's chaos. There's no Somalia anymore, no united Somalia. You go to Mogadishu you may get shot. The only place you stay is where your own family live," Farah said.

For Ahmed's family, that means the northern region of Puntland.

Farah said that when his son agreed to sign the papers that voluntarily revoked his resident status in Canada, it was on the understanding that he would be sent to Puntland. "So, if you take him back, you've got to take him there. We had an agreement. I thought my son was safe," Farah said.

But Puntland recently closed its doors, with officials there saying the region has taken too many deportees from Western countries.

Farah said this week that immigration officials told him they think they've found a way to get his son to Puntland, and intend to take him there this weekend.

"It is very hard for him to live there … there is some family still remaining there. They lost all their loved ones. So he's going to be one of them — if he survives."

It's a daunting prospect for a young man with no memory of his homeland. But Farah said his real fear is that his son will be dropped in Mogadishu and never be seen again.

Source:: http://www.cbc.ca