The Toronto woman who was stranded in Kenya for months after Canadian officials mistakenly voided her passport is finally on her way home.
Suaad Hagi Mohamud was due to board a flight that will take her back to Canada at about 3 p.m. EST, her lawyer told CTV News Channel Friday afternoon.
Raoul Boulakia said his client had a "definite sound of relief in her voice" as she headed to the airport. She should be home and able to finally see her 12-year-old son again Saturday afternoon, Boulakia added.
Earlier on Friday, a judge in Kenya dropped false identity charges against Mohamud and Canada's embassy in Nairobi issued her a new passport.
The Somalia-born woman was detained in Nairobi because officials didn't believe her lips matched the photo in her four-year-old passport. The Canadian High Commission agreed and pulled the passport.
Canadian officials initially called Mohamud an impostor -- voiding her passport and turning her over to Kenya for prosecution.
She spent eight days in jail, which her lawyer called "a horrible place to be looked up."
"Sleeping conditions were extremely bad, so her health is something we are going to have to figure out when we get her home," Boulakia said.
Officials maintained she wasn't who she claimed to be, even though Mohamud handed over numerous pieces of identification and offered fingerprints.
But a DNA test confirmed her identity and cleared her way home.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said an increasing number of global threats make cases such as Mohamud's more common and more difficult.
"There are more and more Canadians who have challenges when they are abroad of very different kinds," he said from Chelsea, Que. Friday.
"The Department of Foreign Affairs does what it can to aid people, but we always advise people to be cautious when they're travelling. The government of Canada does not control affairs in other countries."
Saying "it's not an easy case," Harper has promised the federal government will investigate why she was stranded.
"Our first priority as a government is obviously to see her get on a flight back to Canada," he said in Kitchener, Ont., on Thursday.
Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan said the government will review the actions of the Canada Border Services Agency and has asked for a "full accounting" of how it handled Mohamud's case.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has criticized Ottawa's handling of the file.
"Holding a Canadian passport must mean the Canadian government will protect you -- no matter where, no matter when," he said in a news release.
"Instead, the Harper government handed Suaad Mohamud's passport over to Kenyan officials to aid in her prosecution. She's only the latest Canadian endangered abroad by a government that picks and chooses which citizens it wants to protect."
Lawsuit?
Boulakia said his client should come home to rest and reflect on her situation before she considers filing any lawsuits.
"Everybody is talking about a lawsuit and its obvious why," he said. "But I don't really believe in making that kind of declaration before having time to reflect."
However, her Kenyan lawyer said that Mohamud will sue Kenya, Canada and Dutch airline KLM for damages and is demanding about $1.3 million in compensation.
Lucas Naikuni said his Somali-born client was discriminated against.
"Basically, Somalis are viewed as terrorists or security risks. They didn't want to go the extra mile to verify her identity" Naikuni said. "This is discrimination."
