Canada's identity fraud

Here are the facts: on 21 May 2009, Suaad Hagi Mohamud, a Kenyan-born Canadian national, arrives at the airport in Nairobi for her return flight back to Toronto. At the airport, she is detained by Kenyan authorities as an alleged imposter. Apparently, she does not look like her passport photo, which is several years old. The authorities focus specifically on her lips. Mohamud later claims that she was expected to pay a bribe to secure her release and return home.

The next day, according to the CBC: "The high commission of Canada in Nairobi confiscates and voids her passport, despite Mohamud producing her Canadian driver's licence, fingerprints and other documents." She spends eight days in jail before being released on bail. "Liliane Khadour, the Canadian high commission's first secretary, tells Kenyan government officials a thorough investigation has determined Mohamud is an impostor and recommends that she be prosecuted. Kenyan officials charge her with identity fraud. Mohamud would spend parts of the next two and a half months living in Nairobi slum hotels."

On 22 July, the Canadian government "agrees to ask Kenyan authorities to delay her trial until a DNA test can be conducted to confirm her identity". Still, two days later, foreign minister Lawrence Cannon says that "there is no tangible proof" that Mohamud is Canadian. The DNA test results are released on 10 August. They show that "there's a 99.99% chance that she is the mother of her son in Toronto."

On 13 August, almost three months after Mohamud's detention at the Nairobi airport, Canada's prime minister Stephen Harper, in his first public statement on the case, says that he wants "to see her get on a flight back to Canada." The next day, the charges against Mohamud are dropped. The Canadian government announces that it will conduct an investigation.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/sep/02/canada-suaad-hagi-mohamud-race