FOREIGN Secretary Philip Hammond has refused to request the release of a British citizen who was kidnapped and taken to Ethiopia over nine months ago, rights organisation Reprieve alleged yesterday.

London dad Andargachew “Andy” Tsege has been held at a secret location in Ethiopia since he was abducted in June 2014 while in transit at Sanaa airport, Yemen.

A prominent critic of human rights abuses in Ethiopia, Mr Tsege faces a death sentence imposed in absentia in 2009.

He has not been seen since December, when the British government was granted a brief and heavily monitored meeting.

Despite this, Reprieve said yesterday that it had been informed by the Foreign Office that instead of requesting his release, it will press Ethiopia to follow due process.

“The UK’s failure to even ask for Andy Tsege’s release over the past nine months is nothing short of a scandal,” said Reprieve death penalty team head Maya Foa.

“We’re talking about the illegal kidnap, rendition and possible torture of a British citizen — and a father of young children — by a government that had already sentenced him to death on trumped-up politically motivated charges.”

The Ethiopian government has refused to say whether it will carry out the death sentence and has rejected requests by Mr Tsege’s family, British officials and Reprieve lawyers to visit him in prison.

“The government of Ethiopia is supposed to be a close ally, but its refusal to reveal where Andy is being held or how he’s being treated shows only contempt for the UK and for Andy’s rights,” Ms Foa said.