Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information his Department holds on whether Andargachew Tsege's in absentia death sentence is unlawful.

​The British Government consistently lobbies against the application of the death penalty, and against the carrying out of such sentences when they are imposed. In respect of UK nationals overseas, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's role is primarily to look after a prisoner's welfare while they are detained. We cannot give or pay for legal advice, start legal proceedings on their behalf or interfere in local judicial procedures. We do not hold any information on, and are therefore not in a position to form a view as to, the legality of the process in this case but we remain resolute opponents of the death penalty.