Andargachew Tsige’s partner to stand against Theresa May

ESAT News (May 16, 2017)

Yemi Hailemariam

Yemi Hailemariam, partner of Andy Tsege, Ethiopian born Briton held in Ethiopian jail, said she will stand against U.K’s Prime Minister, Theresa May in the general election in her seat to raise awareness of his plight, according to a report by i news.

The report said with the help of supporters, Ms Hailemariam, from Islington, north London, gathered the ten signatures of constituents in Maidenhead and raised the £500 deposit needed to stand in the seat as an independent candidate.

Kidnapped from a Yemeni airport and renditioned to Ethiopian regime security, Yemi’s partner, Andy Tsige, has been detained in Ethiopia for almost three years.

The report said Yemi Hailemariam accused Mrs May of ignoring the case of her partner, Andy Tsege, 62, a prominent dissident who was sentenced to death in absentia in 2009 by Ethiopian authorities.

Ms Hailemariam told i news that she was standing against Mrs May in her Berkshire constituency of Maidenhead to challenge the Prime Minister over what she said is Britain’s failure to do more to secure Mr Tsege’s freedom.

The mother-of-three said: “Mrs May has been prime minister for nearly a year and yet she has not engaged with this case at all. She actually met the Ethiopian prime minister last week and as far as we know did not mention Andy’s situation.

“I want to make a point by standing. Otherwise things become more and more outrageous. I would like to be able to meet Mrs May face-to-face to express our frustration and create some awareness of what is happening to Andy. He is a British national and yet she applies no pressure to the Foreign Office to act as it should – which is to bring him home.”