Andargachew Tsige was convicted in absentia in 2009 and sentenced to death

The Foreign Office is doing “very little” to help a Briton facing the death penalty in Ethiopia, despite having serious doubts about his conviction, critics are claiming.

Andargachew Tsige, 59, a political activist from London, has been detained since he was removed from an airport in Yemen in June and faces execution for terrorist planning. He is the general secretary of the Ginbot 7 movement, which is banned in Ethiopia, and was convicted in 2009 of plotting a coup.

Government emails, campaigners claim, show a belief there was little evidence connecting Mr Tsige to terrorist activities and that the African country’s actions were unlawful.

According to its website, Ginbot 7 aims for a nation in which Ethiopians enjoy democratic and human rights, economic prosperity and