Professor, a prisoner of conscience, in Ethiopian jail

Dr Yacob Hailemariam

The Virginian-Pilot © February 23, 2006

It’s been three and a half months since his arrest, and Yacob Hailemariam still sits in a dank Ethiopian jail.

Fortunately, there are signs that officials here and elsewhere are finally taking notice.
The Kempsville resident and former NSU professor, who has been declared a “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International, is awaiting trial on trumped-up charges of treason and genocide.

In all, Ethiopia’s increasingly despotic regime — a Potemkin democracy designed to nab foreign aid dollars — has jailed some 131 opposition leaders, journalists and aid workers. Read more