To: All International Organizations and Human Rights Groups
From: The Families and friends of Professor Mesfin Wolde Mariam and Dr. Berhanu Nega
Subject: Arrest of Professor Mesfin Woldemariam and Dr. Berhanu Nega by the Ethiopian Government
On May 8, 2001, the Ethiopian government arrested two prominent Ethiopian academics-Professor Mesfin Wolde Mariam and Dr. Berhanu Nega. Their alleged crime was that they instigated violence during the protests that broke out in Addis Ababa in mid- April.
Professor Mesfin Wolde Mariam is the founder and former head of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council. Dr. Berhanu Nega is a professor at Addis Ababa University and former President of the Ethiopian Economic Association. Currently, he is chairman of the Ethiopian Economic Policy Research Institute which he founded in collaboration with other colleagues. We are extremely concerned about the detention and well being of Professor Mesfin Wolde Mariam and Dr. Berhanu Nega. Both Professor Mesfin and Dr. Berhanu have been on a hunger strike.
Prior to student protests, Professor Mesfin and Dr. Berhanu had participated in a panel discussion on the issue of human and academic rights to Addis Ababa University students. The Ethiopian government alleges that the two respected academics instigated the student protests and encouraged the violence and riots that followed a day after the panel discussion.
This allegation is unfounded and baseless. The two academics have carried out their rightful duties of informing and educating the students about their rights as citizens and members of the academic community. The topic they addressed and the questions they answered concerned basic human rights issues and were within the provisions of the country's constitution. This is confirmed by Professor Mesfin's interview with the press. For example, BBC news quoted Professor Mesfin in its May 8 posting on the web as follows regarding the government's allegations: "We [i.e., the panelists including Professor Mesfin and Dr. Berhanu] merely informed them [i.e., the students] of their basic rights-and we never encouraged violence". On May 9th, both men appeared in court with no legal representation. They were denied bail and the court ruled that they continue to be detained while the police gather evidence to support their case. The arrest and detention of Professor Mesfin and Dr. Berhanu without justification is a gross violation of their constitutional right, and continuing to hold them under the pretext of gathering evidence is unconscionable.
We are very concerned that the police may actually be in the process of concocting false evidence in order to justify their unlawful arrest and to frame the two defendants. There have been numerous cases where Ethiopian citizens have been detained illegally. For many detainees, investigations have been deliberately protracted, lasting for months, even years, forcing the detainees to languish in jail. There are thousands of cases where government critics have been kept in prison for years under abominable conditions with no formal charge of wrongdoing. BBC reported that there are journalists that have been detained whose whereabouts are still unknown.
The strategy of trying to silence outspoken critics by having them detained under false pretexts--and keeping them in jail--has long been practiced by the current Ethiopian government. Many conscientious political, civic, labor and academic leaders, as well as members of the press, have already been victims of this tacit policy. Professor Mesfin and Dr. Berhanu are the latest victims of such flagrant human right violations perpetrated by the Ethiopian government. It is interesting to note that the alleged crime of the two academics is educating and informing university students of their human rights, including their right to protest lawfully! We call on the United States government, the international community, Amnesty international, Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations as well as all other humanitarian organizations to:
We plead with the international community to pressure Ethiopian government authorities to observe basic human rights standards and to respect the constitutional rights of Ethiopian citizens. We appeal to all advocates of basic human rights to demand the immediate release of Professor Mesfin Wolde Mariam, Dr. Berhanu Nega and all other prisoners of conscience who languish in jail just for exercising their fundamental rights.