The Edmonton man no country wants

Abdikarim Gelle is stuck in an Edmonton jail cell indefinitely.

Canadian authorities want to deport him, but they've run into a major hurdle: Somalia won't take him back.

"Why I gotta sit in hell down in jail?" 31-year old Gelle askedgovernment officials and his lawyer at adetention review this week."No lifehere."

Gelle, who fled war-torn Somalia with his family as a child, has spent half his life and nearly his entire Canadian existence in and out of jail.

Since coming to Canada as a refugeein 1999, he has racked up 57 convictions as an adult, including sexual assault, assault of a peace officer, assault with a weapon and trafficking cocaine.

But for eight months over the past year, Gelle has been held without charge at the Edmonton Remand Centre by the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA).

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Government officials insist Gelle is too dangerous to releaseand unlikely to show up for deportation should that ever happen.

They've cleared every last barrier forhis removal but one: the Somali government refuses to accept people with mental health problems,and Gellehasmany.

Gelle is the man that no country wants.

"My son is not alive and he's not dead," sobbedmotherAsili Gelle, her words translated by a family advocate at her north Edmonton home. "I can't have closure."

AsiliGellewrestleda black suitcase from the closet,stuffed with socks, underwear, a blanket and carefully folded shirts. Federal authorities told herto be ready for her son's deportation. Two years later, she's still waiting.

She has legal guardianship of her son. But her poor English and inability to navigate the Canadian justice and health systems over the past 17 years have lefther feeling lost. Unsure of who to turn to, she directs her plea to the very top.

"My son, who is mentally sick, is in jail," saidAsili, fists clenched. "I want the prime minister and premier to know I'm a mother who is suffering, who does not speak the language, and her son is rotting in jail. Everyone knows he's sick and noone is doing anything about it.

"If Somalia rejected him, what is the plan?"

'I'm a mad man'

Transcripts from detention reviews dating back to November2015 show those working on Abdikarim's case have tried unsuccessfully to find an alternative to remandwith suitable mental health supports.

But Alberta Hospital, which deals with psychiatric inmates, won't take him. According to transcripts, authorities say it's because they don't think he canmake an easytransitioninto the community, and is notsticking to his treatment plan.

"I'm not following no treatment plan," declaredAbdikarim at Monday's detention review. "I'm not crazy. I'm a mad man. I'm an officer."

Abdikarim has also claimed to be American rapperJay Z, a relative of U.S. PresidentBarack Obama and the son of the Queen of England. He insists his birth country is Kenya, not Somalia. He complains he's constantly shackled.

On Monday, he once again askedfor proof of his mental illness.

The adjudicator readout part of a diagnosis by a forensic psychiatrist. Abdikarimsuffers fromschizoaffective disorder, intellectualdelaysand substance abuse.

His diagnosis also includes possiblebrain damage and a severe psychotic condition that leaves him "chronically bereft of insight and judgement," documents show.

"I don't have no problems I'm telling you," Abdikarim insisted. "You just read that to me."

Advocates working with the family describe Canada's plan to send a mentally ill man back to Somalia as inhumane.

They don't dispute he needs to be in custody. But they say holding Abdikarim indefinitely without the right medical support violates his rights.

"He's sick," saidHabiba Abdulle, a family advocate withthe Alberta Somali Community Centre. "He has not been looked at as a sick person.

"It's time for him to get treatment and find a facility that would accommodate his mental illness needs."

Somalia's horrors

Asili Gelle's drawn face lights up briefly when she remembersa time before the deportation orders, before her son's descent into crime and mental illness, before civil war, when she neverconsidered life would be anything but normal.

She and her husband led a comfortable life, running a transport company in Mogadishu and raising their three young children. Abdikarim was happy and laughed a lot in those days, she said.

Then war erupted. Her husband was shot dead. Asili and the children fled but the war chased after them.

Everyone knows he's sick and noone is doing anything about it.-Abdikarim'smom,Asili

In one village, soldiers rounded up 70 men and boys, her son among them. Asili Gellerecallshidingin the bush with her little girls, trying to avoid rape. She canstill remember thesmell of theblood and gunpowder fromthe spray of machine gunfire that made the ground tremble and herchest vibrate.

A day later, after the soldiers moved on, the women began collecting bodies.

Underneath the pile of corpses they discovered seven-year-oldAbdikarim. He was alive, uninjured, butpainted red with blood.Only later didAsililearn of the horrors her son had witnessed that daythe amputation of limbs and removal ofeyeballs before the bodies began falling on top of him.

Abdikarim didn't speak on their 17-day walk to Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, passing corpses devoured by hyenas.

In 1999, Asili arrived in Winnipeg with new hope for her family. But 13-year-old Abdikarim's nightmares and panic attacks got worse. He began hallucinating and heard voices in his head.

'Unfinished dream'

Just a year into their new Canadian life, Abdikarimwas hospitalized for the first time, his mom said. A little latercame his first arrest for riding with other kids in a stolen car. He would return to juvenile detention many times.

AsiliGelledescribedthe day she and her children were set to become Canadians as an "unfinished dream." Abdikarim ended up in the psychiatric ward. The delusions were so bad he missed his own citizenship ceremony.

Meanwhile, the convictions and warnings from government authorities piled up.

In 2010, the Immigration and Refugee Board issued two deportation orders for criminality and alleged membership in the Mafia Street Gang in Winnipeg.

The orders also stripped him of his permanent residency.

In 2014, the federal government issued a "danger opinion." The assessmentconcludedthe dangerAbdikarim posed to the Canadian public outweighed the risk of sending him back to Somalia, despite hisrefugee status.

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Resistance from Somali authorities doesn't appear to be deterring Canadian government officials from pursuing deportation.

"There has been very good development in the Somalian removal process in recent months," said a federal governmentrepresentative at the tribunal. "And although there is no sign at this point that Somalia will accept medical casesanytime soon,there is still the possibility that this will change. Of course this is the [public safety]minister's hope."

Over the past year, authorities haveexplored several deportation options.

To deport/remove Mr. Gelle back to his home country of Somalia would be inhumane.-Dr.VijaySingh

One scenario involvedputting Abdikarim on a commercial flight to Kenya with four officers and a medical nurse, whereintravenous drips would be required.Another plan envisioned flying him and his mother to the autonomous region of Somaliland.

"It is my professional opinion that to deport/remove Mr. Gelle back to his home country of Somalia would be inhumane, as this individual requires extensive psychiatric follow up to ensure his stability and ability to remain in the community," wrote Alberta Health Services forensic psychiatrist Dr. Vijay Singh in January 2013.

Theavailability of required mental health services is questionable, the psychiatrist also noted.

"He will die," saidAbdulle, who opposes sending Abdikarimto a country known for stigmatizingmentally ill peopleandchaining themup. "He will not be able to survive in a country that is already struggling."

The border services agencysaid it cannot comment at this time. Abdikarim's next detention review takes place in 30 days.

@andreahuncar andrea.huncar@cbc.ca