The mother of an Ottawa resident imprisoned in the Democratic Republic of Congo is pleading with the Canadian government to speed up efforts to help her son come home to Canada.

Marie-Therese Kapinga said her family was "afraid."

"People are capable of everything there," she said. "We are afraid because we haven't had any (direct) contact with him."

Fabien Shambuyi Kalala, 24, was working for the DRC's opposition party when he was detained by Congolese security forces in the capital Kinshasa on Nov. 26, shortly before the Nov. 28 presidential and parliamentary elections and part of what Amnesty International has described as a campaign of political intimidation.

All of his money and identification were confiscated when he was arrested, Kapinga said.

The Canadian government says it is providing consular assistance to Kalala.

"Our officials in Ottawa are in contact with his family," said John Babcock, director of communication for Diane Ablonczy, Canada's consular affairs minister. "We don't normally discuss details of consular cases. I can tell you we are very concerned about this situation," Babcock said in an email.

Kapinga said the family became worried after she called Kalala on his cellphone several times, but he did not answer. Kalala had been expected to return home to Ottawa for Christmas, she added.

Kalala was in the Congo working as a security volunteer for Etienne Tshisekedi, the rival of Congo's re-elected president, Joseph Kabila.

Tshisekedi is a family friend, Kapinga said.

Kalala was transferred from a holding cell last Wednesday and taken to a prison cell on Saturday after a hearing at the Supreme Court, Kapinga said.

Kalala's uncle, another Ottawa resident, is in Kinshasa. Kapinga said the uncle was assisting Kalala and updating his family in Ottawa about his case.

Kapinga said she was horrified at the thought of her son languishing in a Congolese prison, where one cell can be filled with 50 men and may be crawling with "insects" and "parasites." Kapinga said she was told by Kalala's uncle that her son could not eat because he was afraid of being "poisoned."

"There are some people who have been arrested and who have disappeared," she said.

According to Kapinga, the people holding her son were demanding "a lot of money" - she could not specify the exact amount - for the return of Kalala's passport and his release.

Kalala was a defensive lineman with the Ottawa Sooners of the Quebec Junior Football League in 2008. A team roster listed him as 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds. He played for another QJFL team, the Ottawa Junior Riders, in 2009, and had a failed tryout with the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees football team.

"I tell you he's an amazing, amazing kid, and this is a total shock," said Jeff Dalys, the Sooners' general manager and defensive-line coach when Kalala played on the team. He said he was not taken aback that Kalala would have been outspoken about what had happened in the DRC even though the recent turn of events regarding the arrest wasn't something Dalys would have predicted.

"I actually encourage them really to think about what's going on in the world, so I'm not at all surprised that he would take a stand politically for what was going on there," Dalys said.

Kalala had previously worked as a security guard to help pay for his tuition at the University of Ottawa, where he studied law, Dalys said.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird issued a statement Thursday saying the Canadian government was closely following the electoral process in the DRC. "We call on the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to direct its security forces to act impartially, responsibly and with restraint while carrying out their duties," Baird said.

Ottawa man imprisoned in Congo