Andargachew Tsege: Family's relief after Londoner who spent four years on death row is pardoned

Pardoned at last: Andargachew Tsege
PA
Owen Sheppard29 May 2018

The family of a Londoner who has spent four years on death row in Ethiopia today said they “still can’t believe it” after he was pardoned by the country’s government.

Andargachew Tsege, 63, learned on Saturday that he was one of hundreds of prisoners set to be released under reforms brought by forward by new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

An outspoken critic of the regime in Addis Ababa, Mr Tsege was sentenced to death in 2009 in absentia whilst living in London, where he moved in 1979.

In 2014 he was kidnapped at an airport in Yemen and imprisoned in Ethiopia. Since then he has been unable to communicate with family including his partner Yemi Hailemariam and their three children, who live in Islington.

Speaking at the family’s home, the prisoner’s brother Bezuneh, 55, told the Standard: “We feared for his life. People die nearly every day in Ethiopia for politically motivated reasons.

“We weren’t able to speak [for the last four years]. Not even his family - no communication at all.

“We still can’t believe it [that he was pardoned]. What has happened over the last four years has been extremely difficult. The way he was taken was without any due process – kidnapped from an international airport for being critical about the government.”

It was reported that Mr Tsege could be released within days, although his brother said the family “weren’t sure” exactly when the release would be.

Mr Tsege was a leading figure in the opposition party Ginbot 7 who campaigned for increased democracy and human rights.

The self-styled reform movement was labelled a terrorist organisation by prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn, who resigned in February following years of violent protest.

When Mr Tsege first moved to Britain he continued to work as Ginbot 7’s secretary general and became one of the most prominent opponents of the leading Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front party.

His brother added: “When Andargachew came here he was still very active in Ethiopian politics. He has a lot of followers.”.

There are 575 other inmates due to be released, but Mr Tsege was one of a few who were mentioned by name in the announcement by Attorney General Berhanu Tsegaye on Saturday.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Mr Tsege’s local MP, welcomed the news of his pardon on Twitter.

The pardons are part of reforms that the government in Addis Ababa has pledged to undertake after violent unrest broke out three years ago.

The protests broadened into rallies over political rights, leading to the resignation of prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn in February.

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