Mesfin Woldemariam is Ethiopia’s most prominent human rights defender, respected for his integrity and tenacity.
In early November 2005, authorities detained him on a variety of charges in connection with public demonstrations protesting
alleged election fraud in the May 2005 elections in Ethiopia. The charges include "outrage against the Constitution," "obstruction
of the exercise of constitutional powers," "inciting, organizing or leading armed rebellion" and "attempted genocide." If
convicted, he could receive the death penalty. Amnesty International considers Professor Mesfin Woldemariam a prisoner of
conscience and is calling for his immediate and unconditional release.
In 1991, Professor Mesfin founded the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO), a non-governmental organization that investigates
and reports on human rights violations in Ethiopia. While the government initially approved of EHRCO, it has been increasingly
hostile to the organization. Authorities detained six EHRCO staff members for several weeks in June 2005. Professor Mesfin
was the organization’s chair until 2005 when he resigned and joined the election campaign of the Coalition for Unity
and Democracy (CUD), the main opposition party.
Professor Mesfin, age 76, is a retired geography professor who taught for many years at Addis Ababa University. In 2002
he spent a year at Harvard University through the "Scholars at Risk" program, and he holds multiple degrees from Clark University
in Massachusetts. The New York Academy of Sciences in September 2006 awarded Mesfin Woldemariam its Heinz R. Pagels Award
in recognition of his leadership in advocating for the disadvantaged and in promoting human rights, civil society, and a peaceful
transition to democracy.
Amnesty International is very concerned about Professor Mesfin’s health. He collapsed in his prison cell in August
2006, requiring emergency medical treatment for pneumonia. Although his health remained fragile, he soon returned to Kaliti
Prison, where cells are often overcrowded and conditions are poor.
Professor Mesfin is on trial along with a number of others, including 9 newly-elected CUD Members of Parliament, 14 journalists,
and several lawyers, academics and activists. Amnesty International considers many of those detained to be prisoners of conscience,
including Berhanu Negga (Mayor-elect of Addis Ababa and former professor at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania), Yacob Hailemariam
(former U.N. Special Envoy and former professor at Norfolk State University in Virginia), Kassahun Kebede (president of the
Addis Ababa branch of the Ethiopian Teachers Association), and Serkalem Fasil (a journalist who was pregnant at the time of
her arrest and has since given birth to a child while in detention).
Amnesty International seeks the immediate and unconditional release of Mesfin Woldemariam and all other prisoners of conscience
in Ethiopia
For more information on this and other Special Focus Cases, please visit our website at:
www.amnestyusa.org/prisoners_of_conscience
BACKGROUND
In the May 2005 elections, two opposition coalitions challenged Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s ruling Ethiopian People’s
Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition, which has been in power since 1991. Immediately following the May 15 elections,
the opposition claimed that the voting had been rigged by the government and ruling party. After the National Election Board
issued preliminary results in early June 2005 showing a narrow lead for the EPRDF, opposition supporters took to the streets
in protest. Peaceful demonstrations led to violent confrontations with the security forces. In two incidents in June and November
2005, more 80 supporters of the political opposition were killed by the security forces, and seven police officers were killed
by demonstrators. Authorities arrested tens of thousands of opposition supporters and others in Addis Ababa in November 2005
and detained them without charge. Most have been released, but others have been transferred to prisons throughout the country.
Elsewhere in Ethiopia, thousands of people remain in indefinite detention without charge or trial in connection with armed
conflicts in the Oromia and Somali regions. Thousands of Oromo school students were detained during public demonstrations
in 2005 and 2006. Many were ill-treated and some killed. Security forces typically commit human rights abuses with impunity.
Journalists have been jailed for carrying out their professional duties, and the government has sought to replace the leadership
of the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association with pro-government allies. Lawyers, teachers, and other civil society
activists have been harassed, prosecuted or imprisoned.
