[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 28



IRAN----executions

Hangings continue in Iran this week


14prisoners were executed at prisons in the Iranian city of Karaj this week. 11 
were executed on Wednesday 25 May in Gohardasht Prison; one of whom is believed 
to have been a minor at the time of his alleged offence. A further 3 prisoners 
were executed on Tuesday at Qezelhesar Prison.

The victims in Gohardasht were all aged between 22 and 25, and are believed to 
be Mohsen Agha-Mohammadi, Asghar Azizi, Farhad Bakhshayesh, Iman Fatemi-Pour, 
Javad Khorsandi, Hossein Mohammadi, Masoud Raghadi, and Khosrow Robat-Dasti and 
Medhi Rajai- who is thought to have been 16 when he purportedly committed his 
capital offence.

Of the 3 prisoners executed at Qezelhesar Prison only Ruhollah Roshangar, a 
married father of 2, has been identified. All those executed had been behind 
bars for 4 years.

There were also public hangings this week in the Iranian cities of Ramsar and 
Shiraz. 2 other prisoners were hanged in a prison in Shiraz.

Last week an estimated 21 hangings took place over 48 hours. Since 10 April at 
least 116 people have been executed, according to the opposition National 
Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

Amnesty International has released an annual report into the death penalty. 
Iran has consistently ranked high in regional and global counts; with 82% of 
all executions in the Middle East and North Africa taking place in the country.

"Any claim of moderation under Hassan Rouhani is simply a myth. It is high time 
for the United Nations and human rights organizations to speak out against the 
brutal executions", says Farideh Karimi of the NCRI.

The NCRI has called the government's domestic policy an attempt to "intensify a 
climate of terror" whilst Iran is embroiled in a desperate bid to support 
Bashar al-Assad.

(source: Iran Focus)






UNITED KINGDOM:

2,200 Brits Held In Foreign Jails


More than 2,000 British expats and holidaymakers are held in foreign jails - 
including 13 awaiting the death sentence, according to new official data.

In response to a freedom of information request, the British Foreign and 
Commonwealth Office has issued a country-by-country list of how many Brits are 
in prison.

The list includes convicted prisoners as well as those awaiting trial.

The total adds up to 2,205 British prisoners.

The Foreign Office also revealed 13 prisoners are facing execution in the USA, 
Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Egypt, Indonesia, Kenya 
and Ghana.

"The British government is against the death penalty and we are doing all we 
can to stop the execution of any British national anywhere in the world," said 
a spokesman.

Drugs and child sex offenders

The Foreign office declined to discuss individual cases or identify those on 
death row.

The spokesman also disclosed that 887 Britons were held in jails around the 
world for drug offences - which is 40% of the total number of prisoners held.

The other main categories were child sex offenders (154) and immigration 
offences (102).

The top 5 countries holding British prisoners are the USA (540), Spain (247), 
Ireland (222), Australia (144) and France (104).

"We would warn any expats or travellers from the UK to make sure that they 
understand and obey the laws of any countries they visit, even if they are only 
passing through," said the spokesman.

"Behaviour which is acceptable at home may cause serious offence in another 
country."

Britons in foreign jails

Country Prisoners

USA 520

Spain 247

Ireland 222

Australia 144

France 104

Germany 83

United Arab Emirates 82

Thailand 81

Japan 43

Canada 42

Pakistan 42

Philippines 37

Peru 34

India 33

Portugal 31

Italy 27

Jamaica 26

New Zealand 25

Norway 20

Taiwan 18

Turkey 17

Netherlands 16

China 15

Indonesia 15

Morocco 13

Switzerland 13

Trinidad and Tobago 13

Cambodia 12

Greece 12

Belgium 11

Malta 11

Bulgaria 10

Hong Kong 9

Brazil 8

Cyprus 7

South Africa 7

Costa Rica 6

Dominican Republic 6

Ethiopia 6

Total 2068

[source: Foreign and Commonwealth Office]

Note: Countries holding 5 or less British prisoners are excluded from the table

(source: parsherald.com)

****************

Littleport's hunger riots: Descendants mark 200th anniversary

It resulted in 5 men being hanged on the scaffold and a mixed legacy of shame 
and pride. But what triggered a Cambridgeshire village to go on a 3-day rampage 
soon after the end of the Napoleonic Wars?

The rioting broke out in Littleport on 22 May 1816, when about 100 people armed 
with pitchforks, cleavers and guns smashed windows and broke down doors, 
stealing money, food and goods from their wealthier neighbours.

Resident Elizabeth Little described Thomas South brandishing his cleaver and 
when she asked if he wanted bread or meat, he replied: "No, we want money". He 
demanded 1 pound, but on being told Mrs Little only had 10 shillings, took that 
instead.

Littleport's vicar tried to restore order by reading the Riot Act - the 1714 
legislation had made it a crime for a crowd of 12 or more to refuse to disperse 
when ordered to do so by a magistrate.

Instead, the mob overwhelmed him, ransacked his house and he was forced to flee 
for Ely with his family.

The next day the rioters also set off for Ely, armed with a 8ft (2.4m)-long 
water-fowling firearm called a punt gun, which they had loaded on to a stolen 
wagon.

More than 300 people eventually participated in the riot, which was put down on 
24 May by the Cambridgeshire Militia and the 1st (Royal) Regiment of Dragoons.

One rioter was killed, a soldier who had survived the Battle of Waterloo was 
maimed for life and 82 prisoners were committed to Ely Gaol.

On 28 June 1816, 5 men were hanged, "having been convicted of divers 
Robberies".

Death sentences were actually given to a total of 23 men and 1 woman, although 
the majority had their sentences commuted to transportation to Australia or 
imprisonment.

The Littleport Riots were not isolated events, but part of "a wave of unrest" 
from 1815 onwards, according to Anglia Ruskin University historian Rohan 
McWilliam.

"There was economic dislocation after the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the 
introduction of the Corn Laws in 1815, which increased taxation on wheat," he 
said.

"Labour wages weren't keeping up with the cost of living, while poor harvests 
exacerbated the situation."

Previously common land, on which labourers could grow crops or keep livestock 
to supplement their wages, was being enclosed by landowners.

Their employment conditions had also changed, said University of Hertfordshire 
historian Katrina Navickas, to "daily hirings instead of yearly hirings - in 
essence, the introduction of a type of zero-hours contract".

This was exacerbated by a breakdown of the Poor Law, which was supposed to help 
the most vulnerable based on need with small sums of money and "in kind" goods 
such as shoes.

Dr Navikas said: "Inflation is high after the Napoleonic Wars inflation and 
just the bare minimum is paid because ratepayers are saying they're paying too 
much."

And then to tighten the screw still further, the Game Laws passed in 1816 
restricted the hunting of game to landowners, with transportation the penalty 
for poaching - or even being found in possession of a net at night.

The disturbance broke out when a group of mostly unemployed men met at the 
Globe Inn, for a meeting of the village Benefit Club.

Patricia Collins, whose ancestor William Beamiss was its treasurer and later 
hanged, said: "Members made contributions so they could draw out money when 
they were in need - but the problem was everyone was in need and the money had 
run out."

Feelings boiled over and the men left the pub and began intimidating their 
neighbours, fuelled by drink - and fury over the low wages, the high price of 
food and spiralling unemployment.

Research done by Cambridgeshire Archives suggests that vicar John Vachell was a 
particular target because "he was a local magistrate and well known for his 
harsh sentencing".

John Denniss feels proud to be descended from one of the executed men, but many 
of his forebears saw the story differently.

They "were ashamed" and even slightly changed the spelling of their surname 
from Dennis to Denniss, he said.

He believes his ancestor, the Globe's publican John Dennis, "was prepared to 
stand up for people worse off than him".

Miss Collins prefers to see contemporary parallels.

She said: "They were people driven to desperate straits and it's good to bring 
this story into the public eye at this time, when there are so many food 
banks."

Jeremy Sallis is descended from Little Sallis, a trial witness who told the 
court he saw about 100 people, armed with weapons, smashing windows and looting 
in Littleport.

He was brought up believing his ancestor was a rioter, and only recently 
discovered "his evidence convicted people".

A spokeswoman for Cambridgeshire Archives said: "The government was genuinely 
worried by the danger of violent protest getting out of hand - the revolution 
in France was still fresh in everyone's mind and any challenge to the 
Establishment was seen to contain the seeds of revolution."

Justice was meted out by a government-appointed special commission, which set 
aside the Isle of Ely judge Edward Christian, the brother of Mutiny on the 
Bounty's Fletcher Christian.

A contemporary account described how on the scaffold, John Dennis, Isaac 
Harley, Thomas South, William Beamiss and George Crow "endeavoured to shake 
hands with each other, but having their arms pinioned they were prevented from 
so doing".

Miss Collins said: "John Denniss and William Beamiss were supposed to know 
better, because they were a publican and a shoemaker and were a bit older than 
the others - so they are supposed to have led them astray."

In Littleport, there is still a belief their rioters were "martyrs and made an 
example of", according to Deb Curtis from the Field Theatre Group, which has 
received a Heritage Lottery Fund grant to make a film about the disturbances.

Prof McWilliam does not agree - pointing to the execution of 19 men in the 
anti-mechanisation Captain Swing riots of 1830.

"Both the Littleport and Swing riots were protests at the increasing 
impoverishment of the rural poor and the government used the force of the 
scaffold to clamp down on unrest," he said.

"The rioters felt the full force of the Bloody Code, with 200 offences leading 
to execution."

He also points to the violence used to disperse unemployed Lancashire mill 
workers when they tried to march on Parliament in 1817 and the force used 
during Manchester's Peterloo Massacre of 1819. By 1820, there was even an 
attempt to overthrow the government in the Cato Street Conspiracy.

After the executions, an inscription was put on the side of Littleport parish 
church, listing the men's names and crimes and ending, "May their awful fate be 
a warning to others."

The vicar, Mr Vachell, was one of many who sought compensation for the 
destruction of his property - and received 708 poounds, which is about 50,000 
pounds in today's values.

Littleport Parish also agreed to pay 5 pounds a year to the Waterloo veteran 
whose arm was injured in the riot and later amputated.

Miss Collins said the men had tried to help themselves through periods of 
unemployment or sickness by paying into the Benefit Club.

"In today's terms, they weren't shirkers, they were workers who were looking 
after each other, but the need was so great the money had run out," she said.

And while former shop steward Mr Beamiss knows there was a time when his family 
were ashamed about their connection to a man who joined - and possibly led - 
the mob - he believes his ancestor "fought for the underdog".

(source: BBC news)






SRI LANKA:

Nearly 190 death sentences commuted under present govt. moving to abolish death 
penalty


President Maithripala Sirisena has commuted 187 death sentences to life 
imprisonment on recommendations by an expert committee headed by retired 
Supreme Court judge Nimal E. Dissanayake.

The decision has been announced in the wake of protests demanding the 
implementation of the death penalty on the person convicted by the Negombo High 
Court for rape and murder of a 5-year old girl in the Kotadeniyawa police area 
in the Gampaha District.

Justice Ministry spokesperson Harsha B. Abeykoon told The Island that President 
Maithripala Sirisena had endorsed Dissanayake committee's recommendations on 3 
separate occasions (Dec. 2015, Apr. 2016 and May 2016).

The previous government established the committee in Oct. 2013 to explore ways 
and means of overcoming severe difficulties caused by suspension of death 
penalty in accordance with an understanding with the European Union. The 
committee included Secretary to the Justice Ministry, additional Solicitor 
General and Prisons Commissioner.

The Prisons Department has made repeated representations in respect of nearly 
1,200 convicts on death row.

Abeykoon said that the committee had inquired into cases of nearly 400 convicts 
on death row and recommended the abolition of death sentence.

Foreign Ministry sources told The Island that FM Mangala Samaraweera assured 
the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council last September that Sri 
Lanka wouldn't implement the death penalty. He also said the government would 
abolish death penalty.

Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told The Island yesterday that it would 
be a continuing process. Asked whether those on the death row, who had their 
death sentences commuted to life sentence, were eligible for release after 
serving 20 years behind bars, Minister Rajapakshe said that was a possibility. 
Minister Rajapakshe emphasised that death penalty had been converted to life 
sentence before the incumbent government came into being in January 2015.

(source: island.lk)



BELIZE:

The Mentally Ill And The Law


How to deal "legally" with mentally ill persons who break the law? The 
situation is not uncommon to Belize and recently we have seen major crimes 
perpetrated by mental health patients. The Death Penalty Project, a 
London-based NGO, is here in Belize to host a three day workshop in an attempt 
to at the very least, create a baseline protocol for dealing with the mentally 
ill within existing laws.

We spoke to the event organizer this morning and he told us about the 
importance of hosting such an event in Belize.

Parvais Jabbar, Co Exec. Dir., The death Penalty Proj.

"We've been working in Belize now for over 20 years on individual cases 
representing prisoners who had been sentenced to death. Over that period of 
time, we got to know the country very well, we have very good relationships 
with lawyers and other organizations here and one area that we wanted to 
explore was the criminal justice system. A couple years ago, together with 
other stakeholders in Belize, we launched a report 'Behind the Prison Gates' 
which looked at issues that were important not only in relation to death row 
prisoners, but other vulnerable prisoners such as juveniles, mentally 
disordered, and so on. As a result of this report and some of the findings and 
recommendations that were agreed and considered by a number of important 
stakeholders in Belize, together with the Chief Justice and with the Belize Bar 
Association, we agreed to hold a number of training workshops and seminars 
looking at mental health and the law."

Reporter

"Why is it important to look at that particular aspect of legal processes, 
especially considering people with mental health issues?"

Parvais Jabbar, Co Exec. Dir., The death Penalty Proj.

"It's one of the most important areas that is being looked at all over the 
world. There is serious concern about how mental health is dealt with within 
the criminal justice system and how it is applied and used in individual cases. 
So as a result of that, what we have found, not only in Belize but in the many 
jurisdictions, is that people suffering from mental disorder whether it be some 
mental illness or some intellectual disability. These individuals need to be 
treated and considered in specific ways when looking at the administration of 
justice."

Today's session was a closed workshop for Belizean judges. The seminar is being 
organized by the Death Penalty Project in collaboration with the Bar 
Association and the office of the Chief Justice.

(source: 7newsbelize.com)






TANZANIA:

Tanzania still doubtful in abolishing death sentence


We are right now in the Parliamentary Budget sessions where different 
ministries take stock on what they did in the previous financial year and 
promise new progressive undertakings for the incoming year.

Unlike in the past, when senior citizens used to be glued at their television 
sets watching the live broadcast from their sitting rooms; this is not the case 
now. However a few of us with a special interest have to keep awake, up to the 
wee hours of the morning, just to keep abreast on what is going on in the 
Parliament. In most cases, senior citizens are cynical on whatever is being 
done and are rightly accused of nursing selective nostalgia ideas, that 
whatever was done in their time was better!

They should be reminded that we are in an electronic age better known as 
digital era where automation is order of the day. So, they should 
psychologically get prepared to swim with the current and take things at their 
face values.

This is the 1st budget for the Fifth Phase Government of President Magufuli 
whose catch slogan is Hapa Kazi Tu, originating from last year's political 
campaigns in that General Election's frenzy call on "Mabadiliko."

Therefore the budgetary submissions should be reflective to those reforms and 
should have counter measures such as periodical accountability reports.

I do not see the real commitments of indicative appraisal on how ministries can 
make good of their promises. Even the opposition's submissions are only 
characterized by political rhetoric and not alternative budgets! Is it not 
business as usual?

Let me talk on the 2 ministries I know that they complement each other, the 
Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and that of Home Affairs.

The burning issues of these ministries are very much known, backlogs of court 
pending cases resulting in the overcrowding of remands and convicted prisoners, 
inadequate resources to address inherent challenges facing the ministries, 
working tools and dilapidated infrastructures culminating to serious breach of 
human rights.

Very fortunately the Judiciary during this year's Law Day was graced by the 
presence of His Excellency the President who spoke candidly on the way the 
Judiciary was managing its affairs and granted some funds to speed up those 
pending cases. That was a right step towards such reforms and could have been 
supplemented with other issues needing attention.

During his budgetary statement the Minister of Justice and Constitutional 
Affairs Dr Harrison Mwakyembe touched in passing the much needed finalization 
of the Proposed Constitutional Reforms!

What about the abolishment of the death penalty which was an issue with Mwalimu 
Nyerere in 1985. Mwalimu openly admitted that he was not comfortable with it 
when addressing members of Police and Prisons at the Prison Training College 
Ukonga in a ceremony to bid him farewell.

Last year Tanzania initiated its groundbreaking approach on abolishment of 
death penalty through Parliamentary Group for Global Action (PGA) in a 
Roundtable Meeting held in the country.

This roundtable was also attended by Chair of the Law Reform Commission of 
Tanzania Judge Aloysius Mujulizi who confirmed that the Commission has on 2 
occasions recommended the abolition of the death penalty, reminding that the 
death penalty in Tanzania has no indigenous origin and thus does not have such 
a strong popular support as some may claim.

According to Tanzania's 4th Periodical Report on the International Covenant on 
Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) submitted to the United Nations Human Rights 
Committee in 2009 in Geneva, the government stand on capital punishment threw 
it to the people's wishes and not on the external pressure.

Capital punishment is simply popular because the general public has little 
confidence in the government and state agencies, universally perceived as 
corrupted, inefficient and ineffective.

At the level of the masses, the ignorance of the human rights approach to the 
death penalty, exacerbated by illiteracy, makes the acceptation of arguments in 
favour of the abolition of death penalty even more difficult.

The moment a crime assumes notoriety or begins to overwhelm law enforcement 
agents, public's response has been to impose the death penalty for such crimes 
that include rape, corruption and so forth. What advocates for the death 
penalty fail to understand is that the death penalty does not make the society 
safe.

It may pander to the outrage of society but it does not remove the crime; which 
should be the interest of government. Are we really ignorant of capital 
punishment?

According to position paper of Children Education Society (CHESO) on death 
penalty reveals that from 1961 to April 2007, 2562 Prisoners were sentenced to 
death and 238 of the prisoners were hanged. Despite the fact that 238 prisoners 
on death row were hanged, the numbers of murder incidences have kept increasing 
tremendously from 46 in 1961 to 3,929 in 2013.

The best way to solve crime is to prevent it or at best apprehend the offender. 
When a criminal justice system is too weak to resolve crimes and apprehend 
offenders, the penalties no matter how severe will have no deterrent effect.

It is public knowledge that police lack the capacity to effectively investigate 
crime; there are no forensic labs, equipments or facilities to accurately or 
scientifically tie crimes to suspects.

Most allegations for crimes that attract the death penalty are based on 
confessional statements, most of which are obtained through torture and other 
unlawful practices. Inmates on death row syndrome face suicidal attempts and 
psychotic delusions.

According to some psychiatrists, the results of being confined to death row for 
an extended period of time, including the effects of knowing one will die and 
the living conditions, can fuel suicidal tendencies in an individual and can 
cause insanity in a form that is dangerous. Condemned prisoners while waiting 
for execution undergo painful isolation.

I have an experience on that because at one time I had been in charge of 
condemned wing!

(source: Kiangiosekazi Wa Nyoka, Daily News)






ETHIOPIA:

Andy Tsege in Ethiopia Case: Daughter, 9, in Legal Bid to Return Death-Row Dad


It's not every day that a 9-year-old American girl takes the British government 
to court.

But for Menabe Andargachew, it's a matter of life and death: her father's.

Andargachew "Andy" Tsege disappeared while catching a connecting flight through 
Yemen in June 2014. The political activist was snatched and forcibly taken to 
Ethiopia, where he had been sentenced to death for opposition work.

Tsege is British but so far his government hasn't demanded his release. Now 
Menabe and her family are trying to force their hand: They filed a legal 
challenge alleging that approach is "unlawful."

"My mom said he's been sentenced to death," Menabe says as her chin quivers. "I 
just don't know if we can get him back in time."

*****

This week 61-year-old Tsege marked 700 days in detention - without any access 
to a lawyer.

His Maryland-born partner, family and lawyers say he was kidnapped - a victim 
of rendition carried out by Ethiopia, which has labeled him a terrorist and 
enemy of the state. Ethiopia says he was "extradited."

Tsege was never formally notified of charges against him, trials or given an 
opportunity to present a defense, according the legal filing. His supporters 
allege that Tsege - a prominent member of the Ethiopian opposition - is a 
victim of political persecution.

"I have serious questions about the Ethiopian government's use of the 
Anti-Terrorism Proclamation to limit free speech and political dissent, and Mr. 
Tsege's grave case is one of many that gives cause for concern," Sen. Ben 
Cardin, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said in a 
statement to NBC News.

Both the U.N. Human Rights Council and the European Parliament have called for 
Tsege's release. The British government has expressed "deep concern" over his 
case. But thus far, it hasn't followed suit in demanding Tsege be freed ??? 
instead focusing on getting him "due process."

Tsege's family and lawyers say that's a ludicrous approach.

"The suggestion that he can go through a court process in Ethiopia to somehow 
assert his fights is absolutely farcical," attorney Rosa Curling told NBC News.

For starters? His transfer to Ethiopia was carried out without any formal 
arrest or extradition process, according to the new legal filing, which was 
obtained exclusively by NBC News.

Ethiopia says Tsege was "extradited" under an "existing" treaty with Yemen - 
but the filing says no such agreement has ever been produced.

"You don't really ask due process of your kidnappers," Tsege's longtime partner 
Yemi Hailemariam scoffed. "That man should not be languishing in an Ethiopian 
prison ... All he wanted and he aspired for is a country similar to here and 
the U.S. in Ethiopia."

Hailemariam and her kids share U.S. and U.K. citizenship. They have written to 
the queen, the prime minister, American and British lawmakers for help getting 
Tsege home over the past 22 months.

She hopes the new legal challenge ??? a request for a judicial review ??? will 
force the Foreign Office to "genuinely change" their strategy toward the case 
and work harder to protect its citizen.

"Are we saying that a nation can just grab a third nation's citizen from any 
airport, from anywhere at will?" Yemi said. "The U.K.'s actions - they're 
saying it's OK."

*****

Tsege had a 2-hour layover at Yemen's Sanaa International Airport on June 23, 
2014, while en route from Dubai to Eritrea. He never made it onto the 
connecting flight because he was "forcibly detained by a number of unknown 
individuals" while riding on an internal airport bus - then stripped of his 
British passport and held in an office for hours, according to the filing.

"Officials of the Government of Ethiopia then arrived... put tape over his eyes 
and a sack over his head, placed him in a Jeep, and forced him aboard a plane," 
the legal filing alleges.

That was 22 months ago. Since then Tsege was held in solitary confinement for 
over a year then transferred to the notorious Kality Prison.

"Tsege lives in constant fear that a death sentence imposed on him in absentia 
more than five years ago will be carried out," according to the document.

NBC News obtained a copy of the filing from the campaign group Reprieve, which 
has been lobbying on behalf of Tsege's family.

*****

Hailemariam and Tsege met in 1998 through a mutual friend after she moved from 
the U.S. They started out as good friends, romance only followed later.

Tsege already was "very politically active" at the time.

He was born on Feb. 9, 1955, in Addis Ababa to a prominent family: his father 
worked in the Ministry of Development under Emperor Haile Selassie.

After studying mechanical engineering, Tsege fled Ethiopia in early 1978 amid a 
campaign of repression by the Derg - the Marxist regime junta that ousted 
Selassie.

Tsege was granted full refugee status in the U.K. in 1983 on the basis of 
political opinion.

He earned his British citizenship in 2006 and remained an outspoken critic of 
Ethiopia's regime, helping co-found an opposition party called "Ginbot 7" in 
2008.

The party - which called for democracy, free elections, civil rights and change 
of government "by any means" - was branded a "terrorist organization" by 
Ethiopia's government in 2011. No other state has deemed it such.

Tsege has been tried and convicted 3 times in absentia by Ethiopia's government 
for what appears to be his political activities.

First in 2005 - alongside dozens of other opposition members and journalists. 
The conviction was reportedly for "high treason" - though Tsege was never 
formally notified of the precise charges against him, the filing says. He 
received a life sentence.

In 2009, he was sentenced to death and in 2012 again sentenced to life in 
prison.

Tsege's 2012 case was part of a group of convictions criticized by the State 
Department as "extremely harsh" and which reinforced "serious questions about 
the politicized use of Ethiopia's anti-terrorism law."

"We urge the release of those who have been imprisoned for exercising their 
human rights and fundamental freedoms," it said at the time.

None of the developments deterred Tsege from continuing his activity in the 
opposition. His trip to Eritrea in June of 2014 was part of that work.

Before he left, Tsege and Hailemariam discussed a vacation they were planning 
in Italy with the children. She ended up taking the children alone.

*****

Ethiopia paraded Tsege on state TV shortly after confirming he was in custody - 
2 weeks after he disappeared.

A July 8, 2014, broadcast purported to show him being interrogated and another 
video later that month purported to show the same - but a scream can be heard 
in the background.

A January 2015 broadcast appeared to show Tsege denying he had been mistreated. 
Campaigners say the videos appeared highly edited and were made under duress.

The videos showed marked changes in Tsege's appearance and demeanor.

"The physical change was just drastic," Hailemariam said.

Still, she said she tries not to think about the horrors he may be facing.

"He's still alive. And he needs help," she told NBC News. "You have to stay 
focused on that."

*****

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn defended Tsege's detention in a 
2014 interview and insisted the in-absentia trials were "fair."

The Ethiopian government reiterated that view in a statement to NBC News on 
Friday, saying Tsege had been convicted of "terrorist acts."

"The stated intent of Andargachew Tsege's organization - Ginbot 7 - is to 
overthrow the constitutional order through violent means and disrupt the 
national peace and stability of Ethiopia," it said. "Tsege was serving as a 
Trojan horse, assisting the Eritrean government's repeated and ongoing attempts 
to wreak havoc and instability in the sub-region."

The British government has written to its Ethiopian counterpart seeking 
assurances that the death penalty won't be carried out. None have been given.

Tsege's only contact with his family in London since he vanished was an 
unexpected phone call in December 2014.

When Tsege asked if he could speak to the children, his partner told him it was 
a good idea.

Menabe, though, could barely speak. "I didn't really talk to him because I 
burst into tears when I got the phone," the spunky 9-year-old sighs.

But she knows what she would say if she spoke to him today.

"I'd say that we love him and that we're going to get him back soon and that 
he'll be back home and that I promise he'll ... He'll not be staying there 
forever," she said, swallowing hard.

She misses "exploring" and playing Monopoly with him - "something our mom 
doesn't do" - and seeing him would mean far more than a phone call.

"I'd say I love him and that I'm sorry that this ever happened," Menabe 
sniffled, rubbing her eyes as tears start to flow. "I want him back ... I just 
want him to come home."

*****

The campaigners working with Tsege's family say it's unacceptable they've found 
themselves in this position.

"The British government needs to do more as part of its duty to one of its 
citizens," Reprieve's Maya Foa told NBC News. "If in expressing your political 
beliefs it then means you can't travel anywhere because you could be kidnapped 
and put in some underground prison... What kind of world are we living in?"

The kids brought a petition to 10 Downing Street, the home of Britain's prime 
minister.

Foa questioned whether the cooperative relationship between Britain and 
Ethiopia might be having undue influence over the government response. The U.S. 
also has ties to Ethiopia; Obama made a highly-publicized visit there in July.

"I think there are potentially other interests that are coming above the 
interests of protecting a British citizen and his family," Foa said.

*****

A judicial review asks the court to review whether the decision-making of a 
public body was lawful. In this case, the Foreign Office.

Menabe's filing doesn't dispute that Britain has made "overtures" to Ethiopia 
about Tsege. However, it challenges the government's focus on securing "due 
process" rather than demanding his release.

Any course of action on the premise Tsege "can or will be afforded due process 
in Ethiopia is patently implausible and without reasonable basis," the filing 
states.

"Any overtures or representations made in pursuit of this objective are doomed 
to failure," it added.

It says that "the absurdity of the proposition" has been "underscored" by 
"egregious" violations of international law arising from his in-absentia 
convictions, detention in Yemen and transfer to Ethiopia.

The "due process" strategy is "unlawful," "irrational," "in defiance of logic," 
and "not only unreasonable but potentially dangerous," according to the filing.

The Foreign Office declined to comment on the judicial review or respond to 
questions about the "due process" approach.

"Foreign Secretary [Philip Hammond] has raised Mr. Tsege's case with the 
Ethiopian government repeatedly, making it clear the way he has been treated is 
unacceptable," it said in a statement to NBC News.

The Foreign Office has since 2014 been requesting regular consular access and 
assurances from Ethiopia that no death sentence will be carried out. No such 
assurances have been received.

Ethiopia's U.K. embassy declined to comment on but told NBC News on Friday that 
"Tsege is well-treated and has received visits from the British ambassador to 
Ethiopia."

Those meetings, however, have been intermittent and monitored.

A note from one visit with the ambassador said Tsege had indicated execution 
would be preferable to his current situation.

Yemi said that brought her "worst fears to life."

"To think what they must have done ... to make the happy and loving man I love 
so shattered," she wrote in her witness statement. "He has been broken."

She told NBC News she believes the U.K. isn't doing what it needs to do to 
protect their citizen.

"They have abandoned him," Yemi said.

She finds the British government's refusal to characterize the case as a kidnap 
is "insulting." One letter to Tsege's attorney's said the foreign secretary 
viewed Tsege's "transfer" to Ethiopia as "questionable" but not "criminal."

"Nothing has changed," Yemi added. "So now we are forced to take them to court 
and see if they will do something about it."

*****

Tsege was helping Yemi raise 3 children - Menabe, her twin brother Yilak, and 
older sister Helawit.

Helawit, 16, won a human-rights award for her work lobbying for their father's 
release. On a recent afternoon she was locked in her room studying for exams as 
the twins played with Snapchat.

The gregarious Yilak said he was looking forward to going to the mall in 
America this summer, and to Dunkin' Donuts.

But when asked about their father Yilak clams up.

"It makes me sad," he says in a near-whisper. "I try not to talk about it."

He also tries not to think about it. But sometimes the absence is too hard to 
ignore.

"When I see other people's dads I just realize that mine's gone," Yilak added. 
"It just makes me wish my Dad was here."

Later, he is heard sobbing in the kitchen as his mother tries to soothe him.

"Shh, shh, he's going to come back," his mother coos. "He is."

(source: NBC news)