British national Andy Tsege ‘overjoyed’ to return to UK after years on death row in Ethiopia
Andy Tsege was held in solitary confinement in Ethiopia after the authorities there accused him of being a terrorist. By Andy Hayes, news reporter A British national who spent four years on death row in Ethiopia has
Andy Tsege was held in solitary confinement in Ethiopia after the authorities there accused him of being a terrorist.
A British national who spent four years on death row in Ethiopia has arrived back in the UK after being pardoned last month.
Supporters surrounded Andargachew Tsege, known as Andy, as he walked through arrivals at Heathrow Airport.
Mr Tsege said he did not think the campaign to free him and the welcome he got would be “as large, as emotional, as effective as this”.
Being away had been “terrible”, he added, and very hard on his family.
Missing four years of his children growing up had been the “most painful thing”.
“The price they paid, the kids, that’s very painful,” he said.
Were he not a father, Mr Tsege said he would not have minded dying in prison for a “cause I believed in”.
While in detention, he said he was “completely sealed off” from any information.
Mr Tsege was kidnapped in Yemen in 2014 and taken to Ethiopia, which he left in the 1970s after criticising the country’s ruling party.
The father-of-three sought asylum in the UK in 1979.
In 2009, he was accused by the Ethiopian authorities of being a terrorist, tried with others in his absence and sentenced to death.
After being taken back to Ethiopia, he was held in secret detention and solitary confinement for a year.
Theresa May has thanked her Ethiopian counterpart, Abiy Ahmed, for the release of Mr Tsege and other prisoners.
sky news
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amanuel June 2, 2018
Was labelled terrorist by weyane, was sealed off from outside by weyane, was sentenced to death by weyane. Do you see the hall mark of shaebia in weyane?
Ethiopia got a leader-dr abiy.
We got the worst criminal thugs-hgdf or shabia.
Sol June 2, 2018
Aman, should there was an institutional governance within PFDJ Eritrea’s fare was to be somewhat different but we have is a single socially sick dictator ruling a country in a middle age system introducing all the dirt of totalitarian regimes. If you followed the messages that were exchanged between Sharifo as representative of G15 and DIA, when DIA asked Sharifo why you want a meeting of PFDJ to be held, Sharifo replied because you are alone taking decisions DIA arrogantly replied Emo entay hadish also Kab QEDEM beyney endiye zewesen zeneberku. I don’t think Weyane work in the same way i. e one person decides for the organization and the country. Eritrea is cursed by a maniac dictator.
Sol June 2, 2018
Correction
Eritrea’s fate was to be some what different, but what we have is….
Lelom June 2, 2018
Ayyy Amanuel,…hopefully you are in some corner out side Asmera and dreaming to change HEGDF remotely. ..is it possible??? And Mostly rather than giving clear and logical awareness you are always killing your time by compareism anyways good luck!
Danilo June 2, 2018
Andy tsege pardoned, and at his home with worm well come. This kind of gesture gives credit for Dr Abiy and his government which makes me jealous honestly why doesn’t happen in Eritrea? .is that because there is no rule of law or the famous ” ዳስ ሓውያ ” entry with out exit? Beh, no word to say pardon me.
Sol June 2, 2018
Danilo, do you think all HegiGedef members are happy with the imprisonment of G15, they only hardly accept it as long as it is the decision of their mafia boss.
Danilo June 3, 2018
Sol, of course they are not but on standby in psychological prison still have no way out. Today, unless few , DIA has no real support. The more he is isolated the more becoming sadist.
Simon G. June 3, 2018
Brother Sol,
I hate to disappoint you but HGDF supporters are worse than isayas. At least, isayas is telling us and showing us he really hate our guts and he is trying his best to destroy us and the country.
What are his supporters doing? They are cheering him up to continue.
God has given them the same hardware (brain) but they have chosen to use HGDF’s operating system, by choice that is.
What do you say to these people?
k.tewolde June 3, 2018
You tell them what they are Simon,KETELTI AHWATOM,SHEYETI DEKOM, all for a few dollars and mediocre perks thrown at them by the tyrant which they could have got abundantly with him or without him at the helm.If they only knew! then again……
Simon G. June 3, 2018
Exactly!
Sol June 3, 2018
The supporters of the mafia group in Eritrea due to their sick minds think that one day they will be beneficial of the injustice which is being exercised on the majority of the people, DIA, as a cone artist knows the sick mentality of his supporters that are supporting him for his evilness so he frequently invents fake slogans to liquidate their minds.
የማነ June 3, 2018
መንነት አያታቶም ዝደርበዩ ነውራማት ዕባያት አሰመራ ወለዶ ኢሳያስ- ሴጣን ዝሠረሮም፣ ፈሪሃ እግዝአቢሄር ዝራሃቆም፣ አረመነውያን ስለዝኮኑ ፣ ንዘመናት ምዕንተ ሕዝቦም ዝተጋደሉ መሪሂነት ነበር ሕዝባዊ ግንባር ኣብ ማሃዩር በስቢሶም ንክሞቱ ተፈሪድዎም ሀደ ብሀደ ካብዛ ዓለም ይሃልፉ’ለዉ፡፡ ንዘመናት ሕዝቢ ኤርትራን ትግራይን ዝጨፍጨፉ ጀነራላት ደርጊ’ኳ ድህሪ 10-ዓመታት ብምህረት ነፃ ተለቂቆም ሥለምንታይ ድአሉ መሪሂነት ነበር ሕዝባዊ ግንባር ንሞት ተወዚፎም? ኢልካ ምስትሃትት- እዚ ዘይንቡርን አረመንያዊ ባህሊ – ርስሃት ወታሃደራት ፋሺስቲ ጣልያን ምስ ባህርያት ኢዋሉ አስመራን ድሁር ባህሊ አምሃራን ተሃናፊጹ ዝወፀ ባህርያት’ዩ፡፡ አንዳርጋቸው ጽገ’ውን ሂዚ ተፈቲሁ’ሎ፡፡ መሪሂነት ሻዕብያ በዚ ተመሳሳሊ ዓመሎም ኣብ ዘመነ ሃሪ 1984ዓ/ም ኣብ ባርካ መህለፊ መገዲ አጽዮም ኣብ ሃንቲ ፀሃይ 2500 ህፃውንቲ ደቡብ ተጋሩ ዛሕለቁሉ ተዘክሮ ዝርሳእ አይኮነን፡፡ ብሹም ሕዝቢ ኤርትራ ናብ ሥልጣን ወፂኦም ብዘይ ስክፍታ ኣብ ኩናት ባድመ፣ ሳሀራን ፣ መድትራንያንን ባህሪን ሂዎት አሻሃት መንእሰያት ዛህለቁ መርገም ሕዝቢ ኤርትራ’ዮም!