‘I appeal to the UK to not forget Andy and to make every effort to ensure his safety’ - partner of Andargachew Tsege
Mr Tsege, a British national of Ethiopian origin who is Secretary
General of the outlawed Ethiopian opposition group Ginbot 7, disappeared
at Sana’a airport in Yemen on 23 June while he was travelling to
Eritrea. He had previously been tried in absentia in Ethiopia and
sentenced to death for involvement in an alleged coup attempt.
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| Andargachew Tsege with family in London © Private |
Amnesty is extremely concerned that Tsege – who is a father of three
living in London – is at risk of torture, as political detainees in
Ethiopia are frequently tortured in order to extract information and
“confessions”. Since his apprehension in June, the UK has been granted
just one consular visit on 11 August, during which Tsege was brought
hooded to a meeting with the British Ambassador and was not permitted to
speak to him privately.
Andargachew Tsege’s partner Yemsrach Hailemariam spoke of her anguish
at not having more assurance of his safety. Ms Hailemariam said:
“It’s agony not to be able to visit Andy or find out how he’s doing.
It’s nearly six months since Andy was detained. We’re outraged that the
UK government has only been able to get one consular visit in that time.
Given the close relations between Ethiopia and the UK I would have
expected much more. I appeal to the UK to not forget Andy and to make
every effort to ensure his safety.”
Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said:
“The British government must do more for Andargachew Tsege.“He’s a British national and the government is obliged to make every effort to ensure that he is not subjected to torture or other ill-treatment, and that he is granted access to his family and a lawyer.“The British government have long remained tight-lipped about the disastrous state of human rights in Ethiopia and it’s time they spoke out.”
Repression in Ethiopia
Arbitrary detention like Tsege’s is widespread in Ethiopia and torture
is rampant in Ethiopia’s detention centres. Dissent is not tolerated,
and opposition parties, protesters, students and countless others are
subjected to harassment, arrest and enforced disappearance from the
security services.
In October, Amnesty published a report highlighting that thousands of
people from Ethiopia's largest ethnic group have been arrested in recent
years because of their actual or suspected opposition to the
government. These have been detained without charge, tortured, and in
some cases killed. As Ethiopia prepares for general elections next May,
Amnesty fears the Ethiopian authorities will increase both the scale and
the brutality of its efforts to suppress dissent.
Kate Allen added:
“In the wake of the 2005 elections, nearly 200 people were gunned down in the streets of the capital while protesting against the election results. The 2010 elections took place in a context of intimidation, harassment and major restrictions on political freedoms. Since then the government has continued to take all possible measures to suppress opposition and dissent in the country. Meanwhile criticism from Ethiopia’s donors has been conspicuously absent. The international community should be urging the Ethiopian authorities to take immediate and crucial steps to remove their stranglehold on political space in the country ahead of May’s vote.”
Ginbot 7
Ginbot 7 is one of five organisations proscribed as terrorist
organisations by the Ethiopian parliament in 2011. In 2012, Andargachew
Tsege was prosecuted in absentia on terrorism charges (alongside
journalist and prisoner of conscience Eskinder Nega, and others) and
sentenced to life imprisonment. Previously, in 2009, he was convicted in
absentia on charges related to an aborted coup attempt and was
sentenced to death. He was also tried in absentia in the 2005-2007 trial
of political opposition members, journalists, activists and others.
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