https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/07/briton-jailed-in-ethiopia-court-rules-foreign-office-does-not-have-to-intercede
Briton jailed in Ethiopia: court rules Foreign Office does not have to intercede
Andargachew Tsige’s daughter, 9, denied application for judicial review of UK government’s handling of case
Basia Cummings
Wednesday 7 September 2016 17.32 BST Last modified on Wednesday 7 September 2016 18.31 BST
A British national kidnapped by Ethiopia and held in jail faces an uncertain future after a court ruled that the Foreign Office did not have to intercede on his behalf.
A high court judge denied an application by Andargachew Tsige’s nine-year-old daughter, Menabe, demanding a judicial review of the UK government’s handling of the case.
Tsige, a prominent opposition activist who had been living in Britain for 35 years, was kidnapped at Sana’a airport in Yemen by Ethiopian security agents in 2014, after having been tried and sentenced to death in absentia.
More than two years later, Tsige remains in prison and the UK government has made no public call for his release. The government has merely lobbied for Tsige to get a fair trial and access to a proper defence team. But lawyers acting for Menabe Tsige argued that this approach had proven useless.
Reacting to the ruling on Wednesday, Yemi Hailemariam, Tsige’s partner and the mother of his two children, said: “The judge could clearly see the humanity in the case, but assumed the Foreign and Commonwealth Office must be doing more than just calling for ‘due process’. But there is no evidence for this.
“I’m devastated. Nothing has changed for him. He will remain there. It’s very sad.”
In documents submitted to the court, Menabe’s lawyers stressed the real risks Tsige faced if the government refused to change its approach: “Not least, that [he] will be executed, but even if he is not killed, that he will spend the rest of his life imprisoned.”
The former foreign secretary, Phillip Hammond, argued that calling for Tsige’s released would be “counterproductive, and could affect the government’s ability to progress the case”. In an open letter published last week, the new foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, maintained this position, and reiterated that “Britain does not interfere in the legal systems of other countries by challenging convictions.”
Tsige’s release has been called for by the UN, members of US congress, the European parliament, and various British MPs, as international concern mounts over rising repression in Ethiopia.
Tsige is secretary general of an exiled Ethiopian opposition movement, Ginbot 7. He fled the country in the 1970s, after his brother was murdered, and settled in the UK in 1979. The Ethiopian government has accused him of “terrorism”. Hailemariam and her children have received no written assurances that the government will not uphold the death penalty and execute Tsige.
Maya Foa, head of the death penalty team at Reprieve, said in other cases of British nationals kidnapped or detained abroad, most recently in the arrest of Lee Bo, a bookseller living in Hong Kong who was seized by Chinese authorities, the government did release statements calling for his release.
She added that international pressure has proven successful in prompting the release of political prisoners in Ethiopia. In July last year, the charges against a group of young journalists, known as the Zone9 bloggers, were dropped and they were released from the infamous Kality prison, where Tsige is also being held, ahead of a state visit by President Obama. Press freedom observers speculated that it was the presence of such a high-profile politician that had forced the government to change its position.
Speaking after the ruling, Foa said: “Over two years into this British father’s ordeal, it’s deeply concerning that the Foreign Office has not asked for his release – and today’s ruling comes as another blow to his desperate family. One thing remains clear – the FCO urgently needs to change its strategy, so that Andy can return to his family in London.”
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/andy-tsege-ethiopia-high-court-ruling-kidnapped-by-ethiopia-death-sentence-a7230651.html
Andy Tsege: High Court rejects 9-year-old's plea for UK to bring back British father kidnapped by Ethiopia
Exclusive: Father faces death sentence on terror charges 'that would not stand up in UK court'
Adam Withnall Africa Correspondent Wednesday 7 September 2016
The High Court has rejected the case of a nine-year-old British girl demanding Theresa May's government do more to help her father, who has been kidnapped by the Ethiopian authorities and now faces an impending death sentence.
British officials have failed to intervene in the case of Andargachew Tsege, known as Andy, a father of three from London who was granted political asylum in the UK in 1979 and has lived in Britain ever since. He was abducted in June 2014 while on route to visit Eritrea, and in July 2015 moved to the infamous Kality prison outside Addis Abiba, dupped "Ethiopia's gulag".
Lawyers for Andy's daughter, Menabe Andargachew, 9, began judicial review proceedings earlier this year against the Foreign Office (FCO) over ministers’ handling of the case.
But according to the rights group Reprieve which has been assisting Andy's family, at a hearing on Wednesday afternoon High Court judges ruled in the government's favour.
Maya Foa, director of the death of penalty team at Reprieve, told The Independent: "Andy Tsege is the victim of a series of terrible abuses at the hands of the Ethiopian government – from kidnapping to rendition and illegal detention under an in absentia death sentence.
"Over two years into this British father’s ordeal, it’s deeply concerning that the Foreign Office has not asked for his release – and today’s ruling comes as another blow to his desperate family. One thing remains clear – the FCO urgently needs to change its strategy, so that Andy can return to his family in London."
A political dissident in his time in Ethiopia, Andy is accused by the Ethiopian authorities of working to bring down the government and was convicted of terrorism offences in absentia in 2009, a crime punishable by death.
Internal FCO documents, seen by Reprieve, show British officials have privately described Andy's treatment by the Ethiopian authorities as "completely unacceptable".
Of the terror charges, they said they "have not been shown any evidence [against Andy] that would stand up in a UK court".
US diplomats who attended the in absentia death sentence said it was “lacking in basic elements of due process” and a form of “political retaliation”.
But despite successful interventions in other cases involved British citizens detained abroad, the FCO has insisted it will not call for Andy's release.
Last week, the UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson published an open letter in response to the large number of people contacting the Foreign Office about Andy's case.
He said Britain would "continue to press the Ethiopian government as necessary to ensure Andy has access to the promised legal representation". He refused to call for Mr Tsege’s release, claiming that “Britain does not interfere in the legal systems of other countries by challenging convictions.”
Received on Wed Sep 07 2016 - 13:00:44 EDT