The Toronto lawyer for a Canadian woman stranded in Kenya since May says the Canadian government will work towards having her bail dropped in the country so she can return home.
Somalian-born Suaad Hagi Mohamud, a 31-year-old Canadian citizen, was visiting her mother in Kenya and was in the airport to fly back to Canada when a Kenyan official stopped her to say she wasn't the same person pictured in her four-year-old passport.
After going to the Canadian high commission in an effort to prove her identity with numerous pieces of identification, officials voided her passport and sent her to Kenyan authorities for prosecution.
Mohamud's lawyer, Raoul Boulakia, told CTV.ca that Mohamud is meeting with Canadian officials in Kenya early Wednesday morning, and in the best-case scenario she could be home by Sunday.
Boulakia has filed a motion with the Federal Court to force the government to issue an emergency passport, which will be heard on Thursday.
"Because we are before the court I really believe it's possible for us to get a resolution for this," he said Tuesday evening.
Mohamud's 12-year-old son, Mohamed Hussein, has been waiting for his mother in Toronto. On Tuesday, he said he was overjoyed they would soon be reunited.
"I feel great, happy, relieved," he told 麻豆影视.
Officials with Canada Border Services Agency said Tuesday they were preparing emergency documents for Mohamud, one day after DNA tests confirmed her identity.
The agency did not say how long it would be before the documentation was ready.
Mohamud was stranded after a Kenyan official said the size of her lips and her eyeglasses were different than in her passport photo.
She then went to the Canadian high commission in an effort to prove her identity. She showed them her Ontario driver's licence, her health card, social insurance card and a Canadian citizenship certificate.
Mohamud also had other pieces that would seemingly prove her identity, such as her credit card, bank cards and a letter from her Toronto employer.
She even had a receipt to a Toronto dry cleaner and her Shoppers Drug Mart "Optimum" card.
But the Canadian high commission rejected them all and voided her passport, which was sent to Kenyan immigration officials to help prosecute her.
She then spent eight days in jail before being released on bail.
"It was horrible. I mean really, really horrible. Believe me," she told 麻豆影视 by phone fro Nairobi. "I'm glad that it's over now."
Boulakia said the Canadian government needs to release all the details of their investigation that led to her being charged by the Kenyan authorities.
"They don't want to and they should, Canadians should be entitled to know how our embassies treat citizens who ask for their protection," he said.
The lawyer also said the government should release clear rules on how they identify citizens abroad.
Results of Monday's DNA test -- comparing Mohamud's genetic make-up with her 12-year-old son -- showed they were a 99.9 per cent match.
Canada paid the $800 bill for the test.
Mohamud said that it is her son who is foremost in her mind.
"I can't wait to see me son," she told 麻豆影视.
As for possible legal action against the Canadian government, Boulakia said his only concern "is to get her home and with her 12-year-son."
"There's no real call to complicate getting her back with her son," he said.
With a report by CTV's John Vennavally-Rao and files from The Canadian Press
