Thursday, January 15, 2015
Breaking News: British MPs to visit Ethiopia in bid to secure release of Andy Tsege
Mr Tsege, 59, a leading critic of the Ethiopian government who came to Britain as a political refugee more than 30 years ago, has been held in solitary confinement for the past six months.
He vanished during a stopover in Yemen last June, during a trip from Dubai to Eritrea, in what campaigners say was a politically motivated kidnapping. Weeks later it emerged he had been imprisoned in Ethiopia.
His precise whereabouts remain unknown.
The Briton, who is the secretary-general of a banned Ethiopian opposition movement, is facing a death sentence imposed at a trial held in his absence in 2009.
The announcement of the visit by British Parliamentarians, yesterday, is in stark contrast to the efforts of Prime Minister David Cameron, whose response to desperate pleas for help from Mr Tsege’s family last year was to write a letter to Ethiopia’s Prime Minister.
Jeremy Corbyn, vice-chair, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Human Rights, and Mr Tsege’s constituency MP, will lead the delegation. “He is a British citizen so there is no reason on earth why the British government should not take a very robust view on this,” he said. His constituent is “a British national in prison with no understandable, comprehensible or acceptable legal process that’s put him there.”
And Clive Stafford-Smith, director, Reprieve, who will accompany the MPs to Ethiopia, said: “I think Mr Cameron doesn’t understand how serious this is. I think that Andy is going to be seen, as the years go by, as Ethiopia’s Nelson Mandela.”
Campaigners fear that Mr Tsege is being tortured and concern is mounting for his wellbeing. His sister Bezuaybhu said: “He’s in his cell for 24 hours a day, with an electric light, he’s having no exercise, he’s not having contact with anybody – so if this is not torture what is it?” Her brother has been “kidnapped, detained illegally” and should be brought back to Britain, she added.
In a statement a Foreign Office spokesperson said: “The Ethiopians have not allowed us further access than the two consular visits on 11 August and 19 December, though we continue in our efforts to secure this.” The British government is “deeply concerned” about his detention and is “pressing the Ethiopian authorities” not to carry out the death penalty, they added.
Six months after his capture, Mr Tsege’s family is finding it increasingly hard to cope. His partner Yemi Hailemariam, mother of their three children, said: “We are very ordinary family caught up in this very extraordinary problem and we just don’t know how to get ourselves out of it.” She added: “It just breaks my heart to think he will be celebrating his 60th birthday in three weeks’ time in prison.”
The only contact she has had in six months was a short telephone call Mr Tsege made last month. “He primarily focused on the kids saying that I should not give them false hope. I told him to keep well and strong. He said he is fine. I asked him where he was, he said he was still there [Ethiopia],” she told The Independent.
“It is very, very, difficult to keep things going; I do have my low points. I try just to block a lot of things out and just keep ploughing away - that's how I'm trying to cope with it,” said Ms Hailemariam.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Ethiopian Embassy, London, claimed that Mr Tsege belongs to a “terrorist organization” seeking to “overthrow the legitimate government of Ethiopia.” He is being “well treated” and “torture is inhumane and has no place in modern Ethiopia,” they added.
Yet a recent report by Amnesty International revealed how political activists have been tortured and killed by the Ethiopian security forces in recent years.
He vanished during a stopover in Yemen last June, during a trip from Dubai to Eritrea, in what campaigners say was a politically motivated kidnapping. Weeks later it emerged he had been imprisoned in Ethiopia.
His precise whereabouts remain unknown.
The Briton, who is the secretary-general of a banned Ethiopian opposition movement, is facing a death sentence imposed at a trial held in his absence in 2009.
The announcement of the visit by British Parliamentarians, yesterday, is in stark contrast to the efforts of Prime Minister David Cameron, whose response to desperate pleas for help from Mr Tsege’s family last year was to write a letter to Ethiopia’s Prime Minister.
Jeremy Corbyn, vice-chair, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Human Rights, and Mr Tsege’s constituency MP, will lead the delegation. “He is a British citizen so there is no reason on earth why the British government should not take a very robust view on this,” he said. His constituent is “a British national in prison with no understandable, comprehensible or acceptable legal process that’s put him there.”
And Clive Stafford-Smith, director, Reprieve, who will accompany the MPs to Ethiopia, said: “I think Mr Cameron doesn’t understand how serious this is. I think that Andy is going to be seen, as the years go by, as Ethiopia’s Nelson Mandela.”
Campaigners fear that Mr Tsege is being tortured and concern is mounting for his wellbeing. His sister Bezuaybhu said: “He’s in his cell for 24 hours a day, with an electric light, he’s having no exercise, he’s not having contact with anybody – so if this is not torture what is it?” Her brother has been “kidnapped, detained illegally” and should be brought back to Britain, she added.
In a statement a Foreign Office spokesperson said: “The Ethiopians have not allowed us further access than the two consular visits on 11 August and 19 December, though we continue in our efforts to secure this.” The British government is “deeply concerned” about his detention and is “pressing the Ethiopian authorities” not to carry out the death penalty, they added.
Six months after his capture, Mr Tsege’s family is finding it increasingly hard to cope. His partner Yemi Hailemariam, mother of their three children, said: “We are very ordinary family caught up in this very extraordinary problem and we just don’t know how to get ourselves out of it.” She added: “It just breaks my heart to think he will be celebrating his 60th birthday in three weeks’ time in prison.”
The only contact she has had in six months was a short telephone call Mr Tsege made last month. “He primarily focused on the kids saying that I should not give them false hope. I told him to keep well and strong. He said he is fine. I asked him where he was, he said he was still there [Ethiopia],” she told The Independent.
“It is very, very, difficult to keep things going; I do have my low points. I try just to block a lot of things out and just keep ploughing away - that's how I'm trying to cope with it,” said Ms Hailemariam.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Ethiopian Embassy, London, claimed that Mr Tsege belongs to a “terrorist organization” seeking to “overthrow the legitimate government of Ethiopia.” He is being “well treated” and “torture is inhumane and has no place in modern Ethiopia,” they added.
Yet a recent report by Amnesty International revealed how political activists have been tortured and killed by the Ethiopian security forces in recent years.
5 ቻይናዎች አዲስ አባባ ላይ በሰው መግደል ወንጀል ተጠጥረው በፖሊስ ተያዙ
5 ቻይኖች አዲስ አባባ ላይ በሰው መግደል ወንጀል ተጠጥረው በፖሊስ ተያዙ::
ይችን ይወዳል!ደኑን መመንጠር አልበቃ ብሎ ወደ ሰው ተሻገሩ
According to the Reporter weekly Ethiopian police forces have arrested more than five foreigners at Bole TK building on Jan 5th, 2014. Eye witnesses have described the foreigners in custody as being Chinese.
Police have told the gathered crowd that the foreigners were suspected of homicide. The weekly’s attempt to confirm the story from Addis Ababa police commission was unsuccessful. Police wasn’t willing to give more information on the matter.
ጀርመን ውስጥ አንድ ኤርትራዊ ስደተኛ በዘረኞች ተገደለ
It was 8pm on Monday when Khaled Idris Bahray told his seven flatmates he was popping out to buy some cigarettes from the Netto supermarket about 100 metres away from his flat in a prefab high-rise in the south of Dresden.
The 20-year-old Eritrean said he wouldn’t be long. But a few hours later he still hadn’t returned. “We assumed he’d gone to stay with some other friends nearby,” said his flatmate, Abdulrezak Suleman. “So we weren’t really worried.”
But around 7.40 the following morning, other residents in the six-storey building found his body slumped in the inner courtyard of the housing estate.
According to his flatmates, in reports that the police will not confirm, he was covered in blood, with at least one deep cut visible on his body. Rigor mortis had already set in. “He was lying on his back, and had blood coming out of his nose and mouth, with drops of blood leading towards the door as if he’d tried to get in, but not made it, and drops on the grass,” said Abdulatif, 23, a fellow Eritrean who lives nearby but had spent that night in Bahray’s flat.
ጋና አክራ ላይ የኢትዮጵያ አየር መንገድ አውሮፕላን የተንሻሸተተው እና የተጋጨው ጎማው ፈንድቶበት ነው ተባለ::
The Boeing 737 400 aircraft with registration number ET-AQV operated by ASKY from Lomé to Accra, skidded off the runway, causing extensive damage to the aircraft.
The three-member crew on board the aircraft were treated and discharged for various injuries at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra.
A statement issued by the management of Ethiopian Airlines read in part that the “aircraft skidded out of the runway with flat tyres upon landing at Kotoka International Airport in Accra on January 10, 2015”.
The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, (GCAA), Monday set up a seven-member committee to investigate the actual cause of the crash landing incident at Ghana’s only International Airport
ምንጪ
Breaking news በሳውድ አረቢያ የኤርትራ ኢምባሲ በእሳት ጋየ ።The Eritrean Embassy in Saudi Arabia has been destroyed in blaze.
Breaking News. According to someone's Facebook page the Eritrean Embassy in Saudi Arabia has been destroyed in blaze. The eye witness video is showing the fire has been out of control and unable to put off by the firefighters in timely manner . The person added may be the entire building and its contents are completely destroyed. The narrator also said this could be a work of Eritrean Diasporas or some other Eritreans who are unhappy with the government, also the person compared the fire destruction with the Ethiopian 1st Hotel aka Taitu hotel which was partially destroyed by fire in Addis Ababa last week. Still we are searching the net for additional sources to verify the news.
This has been NEWS in progress
ኤምባሲ ኤርትራ ኣብ ስዑዲ ዓረብ ብሓዊ ተቓጺሉ
ኣብ ስዑዲ ዓረብ፣ ከተማ ሪያድ ዝርከብ ኤምባሲ ኤርትራ፣ ሎሚ ንግሆ ብሓዊ ከምዝተቓጸለ ምንጭታት ሬድዮ ኤረና ካብቲ ከባቢ ሓቢሮም።
ጠንቂ'ቲ ባርዕ ብወግዒ'ኳ እንተዘይተሓበረ፣ ሓደ ኣባል'ቲ ኤምባሲ ሻሂ ከፍልሕ ነቲ ሓዊ ረሲዑዎ ከይዱ ዝብል ወረታት ብብዝሒ ይንገር ከምዘሎ ተሓቢሩ።
ኤምባሲ ኤርትራ ኣብ ስዑዲ ዓረብ ኮነ መንግስቲ ኤርትራ ብዛዕባ'ዚ ኣብቲ ኤምባሲ ኣጋጢሙ ዘሎ ባርዕ ሓዊ፣ ኣብ ሰብ ዝወረደ ጉድኣት ወይ'ውን ንዝዓነወ ንብረት ብዝምልከት ዝሃብዎ ወግዓዊ መግለጺ የለን።
ገለ ክፋል ናይቲ ኤንባሲ፣ ቤትጽሕፈት ማሕበረኮምን ቤትጽሕፈት ህግደፍን ምልኡ ብሙሉእ ዓንዩ ከምዘሎ ግና ናይ ዕእይኒ መሰኻክር ካብቲ ቦታ ኣረጋጊጾም።
ኣብቲ ኤምብሲ ቅድሚ ክልተ ዓመት'ውን ተመሳሳሊ ባርዕ ኣጋጢሙ ምንባሩ ይዝከር።
ሬድዮ ኤረና ነዚ ኩነታት ተኸታቲላ እዋናዊ ሓበሬታ ከተቕርብ ምዃና ትገልጽ።
Post by Fasil Abebe.
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