The Toronto Star reports Suaad Mohamud Haji, a woman from Toronto, cannot leave Kenya where she was visiting her sick mother. Kenyan officials allege she does not look like her Canadian passport photo. The photo is more than four years old. Her son, ex-husband, and a neighbour, all in Toronto, spoke with her on the phone and recognized her voice.
Ms. Haji was detained on May 17 when she tried to board her flight back home. She is out on bail now with the next court hearing due on July 21. According to Ms. Haji, she tried to get Canadian consular officials’ help: “I phone them three times again today and nobody calls me back.” Foreign Affairs in Ottawa said that they are “working with Kenyan authorities to verify the identity of the individual.”
What exactly they are doing and why it has taken almost six weeks, the Foreign Affairs spokesman did not say, according to the Star.
I don’t know what to say to Ms. Haji, stuck in Kenya.
Happy Canada Day?
(post sponsored by advicescene.com)