The detention of a British citizen held on death row in Ethiopia for almost a year is being investigated by the United Nations official responsible for preventing torture.
According to the guardian, Andargachew Tsige was arrested last June while in transit through Yemen’s main airport and forcibly removed to Addis Ababa.
Tsige is the leader of an opposition party and had been condemned to death several years earlier on his absence.
There have been claims that Tsige is being deprived of sleep and help in isolation. This has prompted Juan Mendez, the UN special rapporteur on tortureto write to the Ethiopian and UK governments stating that he is investigating the treatment if Tsige. The guardian has reported.
Tsige’s partner, Yemi Hailemariam who is also a British national said that Tsige had been in Dubai flying to Eritrea when the plane stopped in Yemen. He believes the Yemeni security took him and handed him over to Ethiopians.
Yemi has since spoken to Tsige once by telephone and has no idea where his partner is being held.
Tsige has been on television three times in heavily edited interviews. The Ethiopian government says that Tsige was reveling secrets.
Tsige had previously been the secretary general of Ginbot 7. He moved to the UK in the 1979.
He has been accused of being a terrorist.
Back in 2009, he and other people were tried in their absence and he was sentenced to death.
The UK prime minister, David Cameron, has, however, written a letter to his Ethiopian counterpart, Hailemariam Desalegn, raising concerns about Tsige.
