Professor Mesfin Woldemariam -- a human rights defender in TPLF's jail

Professor Mesfin Woldemariam, 75-year-old founder and former chairman of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council, has been detained since early November 2005, following opposition party demonstrations to protest peacefully against alleged fraud in Ethiopia’s May 2005 elections. A retired geography professor from Addis Ababa University, he is Ethiopia’s most prominent human rights defender. He recently spent a year at Harvard University.

Jailed along with Mesfin Woldemariam are many others, including leaders of the opposition political party Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), journalists, and anti-poverty activists. These include Dr. Berhanu Negga, a professor of economics, Dr. Yacob Hailemariam, a former prosecutor in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Hailu Shawel, Bitukan Mideksa, Getachew Mengiste, Gizachew Shifferaw, Dr. Hailu Araya, Debebe Eshetu, Muluneh Eyual, Daniel Bekele, Natsanet Demissie, and Dr. Befekadu Degefe. Although the charges against the defendants include “treason” and “violent conspiracy,” Amnesty International considers them to be prisoners of conscience who have been jailed solely on account of their non-violent opinions and activities. Read more