Government blasted for ‘dodging obligations’ and not pressing for release of Brit on death row in Ethiopia

October 16, 2014

The Independent

The partner of a British father-of-three being held on death row after he was spirited into Ethiopia has accused the Government of “dodging its obligations” by insisting it has no grounds for demanding his release.

Political refugee Andy Tsege ‘kidnapped’ by Ethopia and possibly facing torture

Andargachew “Andy” Tsege, 59, was arrested at an airport in Yemen in June, and vanished for a fortnight until he reappeared in Ethiopian detention facing a death sentence imposed five years ago after a trial held in his absence.

The Foreign Office is now facing legal action after it classified Mr Tsege’s arbitrary disappearance and removal to Ethiopia as “questionable but not a criminal matter and said that despite the risk of torture and the ultimate sanction hanging over him it did not feel “entitled” to demand he be returned home to London.

Yemi Hailemariam, Mr Tsege’s partner and the mother of their three children, told The Independent she was deeply concerned that Britain was soft-pedalling on his case to preserve its relationship with an increasingly important ally in east Africa.

Mr Tsege, who came to Britain as a political refugee in 1979 and is a prominent dissident campaigning against the Ethiopian regime, is feared by Ms Hailemariam and the legal charity Reprieve to be at extreme risk of torture. Electrocution, beatings and abuse, which includes tying bottles of water to men’s testicles, have been reported by detainees, and Mr Tsege’s whereabouts has not been revealed by the Ethiopian authorities.

Ms Hailemariam said: “For anyone reading what has happened, it must be clear that Andy is the victim of a crime. He was kidnapped to Ethiopia and faces the death sentence from a trial where he wasn’t even represented. He is a political prisoner.

“The Foreign Office is dodging its obligations and it is hard to see any other reason than it is to preserve Britain’s wider relationship with Ethiopia. It is now 117 days that he has been in detention and Britain must now say enough is enough.”

Reprieve, which has taken up Mr Tsege’s case, said it was starting legal action against the Government, potentially leading to a judicial review, to force it to press for the Briton’s immediate release and repatriation.

Maya Foa, director of the Reprieve’s death penalty team, said: “Andy Tsege is now well into his fourth month of detention and, incredibly, we are no closer to knowing where he is or even whether the Ethiopians plan to execute him. The UK Government’s unwillingness to take action is simply unacceptable.”

The father-of-three was en route to Eritrea when he was arrested during a two-hour stop over in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, at the apparent request of the Ethiopian authorities, who seem to have had foreknowledge of Mr Tsege’s travel arrangements.

The Yemeni authorities have claimed the arrest and subsequent transfer of the Briton to Ethiopia – without any opportunity to challenge the move – took place on the basis of a security agreement between the two countries.

In a letter to lawyers for Ms Hailemariam, seen by The Independent, the FCO said it accepted “due process” did not appear to have been followed in the case but said his disappearance did not amount to a “kidnapping”.

It added that it required evidence that a British national was not being treated “in line with internationally accepted standards” before it could consider approaching local authorities. The letter said: “On the information presently available, the Foreign Secretary does not consider that the United Kingdom is entitled to demand Mr Tsege’s release or his return.”

Ms Hailemariam said: “Andy has been abducted and placed on death row on the basis of a politically motivated trial. It is difficult to think of circumstances that would fall further below ‘internationally-accepted standards’. What will it take for Britain to demand the return of one of its citizens?”

A FCO spokesman said: “The British Embassy in Ethiopia remains in contact with the Ethiopian authorities about regular consular access to Mr Tsege in the future so we’re able to continue to monitor his welfare. We also continue to press for reassurances that the death penalty imposed in absentia will not be carried out.”

The Independent revealed earlier this month that public money is being used to train security forces in Ethiopia under a £2m programme run by the Department for International Development (DfID) to fund masters degrees for 75 Ethiopian officials on improving the accountablity of security services.

Material on the DfID website explaining the scheme has since been removed, prompting Reprieve to write to International Development Secretary Justine Greening asking whether the policy is under review or has been erased “to avoid embarrassment”.

DfID admitted it had cancelled the masters courses due to “concerns about risk and value for money”. A source said the decision was not linked to the case of Mr Tsege.

ECADF

East Africa: CPJ - East Africa Records High Exodus Rates of Journalists

Addis Ababa — As the globe marks World Refugee Day on Thursday, an international press freedom group, said that the number of journalists from East African countries fleeing into exile remains on the rise.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalist's (CPJ) report, a total of 55 journalists from 21 "repressive" countries, including from five East African countries, were forced into exile.

Journalists in the East Africa nations of Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Sudan fled in higher numbers over the past 12 months, than previous years, CPJ's Journalists in Exile 2013 report says.

With the help of CPJ, 18 media workers fled their homes into exile making the East African region responsible for the highest exile rates of Journalists for the sixth consecutive year.

The latest report, CPJ said, counts only to journalists who fled due to work-related persecution, who remained in exile for at least three months, and whose current whereabouts and activities are confidential to CPJ.

The group further said the journalists were forced into exile to escape different forms of intimidation, violence, imprisonment, and death threats during the past year.

The annual SURVEY listed Iran and Somalia, followed by Ethiopia, Syria, Eritrea, Mexico, Sri Lanka and Sudan as the nations that drive out the most journalists.

"Journalists all over the world are being forced from their homes to escape persecution, imprisonment and sometimes even death," said Maria Salazar Ferro, CPJ Journalist Assistance Program coordinator.

"When journalists flee, their absence often weakens the besieged media community already struggling to provide insightful reporting about sensitive issues."

Most of the journalists from Eritrea and Ethiopia fled in fear of imprisonment, according to the report.

Eritrea and Ethiopia, who respectively are Africa's leading jailers of journalists, have long records of press repression.

Of the 30 journalists who CPJ said assisted in exile from Eritrea since 2008, many of them alleged they have been unlawfully detained in the country's prison facilities without charge or trial.

The survey indicated that exiled journalists live in very difficult conditions suffering anxiety about their families members back home and getting trapped in a legal limbo being unable to secure job.

"Forced exile can wreck journalists' lives, as well as the lives of theirfamilies," Salazar Ferro said.

Ferro said only about one-fifth of exiled journalists are able to resume working in the same field.

Source: allAfrica

Police arrest prominent journalist Temesgen Desalegn

Police on Monday arrested Temesgen Desalegn, a prominent journalist whose publications he edited and published were shut down by the government one after the other.

Temesgen, known as a fiery critic of the government in Addis, was editor of Addis Times magazine, which the government shut down recently. Prior to that, he was editor of Feteh, a popular weekly which the government also banned in 2012. Written in Amharic, his articles also appeared weekly on Ethiomedia, much to the satisfaction of the Ethiopian diaspora that has little or no access of news and information from the tightly-controlled country in the Horn of Africa.

Temesgen spent the last two years in court, defending himself against 114 charges, including allegedly “a call for the overthrow the constitutional order by violence,” “defaming the government,” and “stirring public thoughts for an anti-government uprising .” The charges carry sentences from three to up to 17 years in prison. Temesgen faces sentencing on October 27.

Following the arrest of the Pen-Award-winning journalist Eskinder Nega in September 2011, Temesgen emerged as as a journalist known for his razor-sharp commentaries. He was the lone voice of the people for writing against the high handedness of the government of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn. His writings ranged from the attacks on press freedom to widespread corruption and the dangers of ethnic politics which the government fuels relentlessly.

In April this year, Ethiopia arrested six bloggers and three journalists known as Zone 9. The group was charged with ‘terrorism’, and deploying ‘encryption tools’ to conceal ‘sources.’ They still remain behind bars.

Last August the government filed charges against five magazines, a newspaper and their publishers, for allegedly promoting “terrorism and radicalism.” Most of the editors and journalists have since fled the country for fear of arrest.

Source: Etio.M