Mesfin Woldemariam

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Professor Mesfin Woldemariam (also spelled Mesfin Wolde Mariam; born 1930) is an Ethiopian peace activist, who has been actively engaged in a peaceful movment to bring juctice, eqality and peace for all the people in his country. He is a founding member of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRC), and later founded the Rainbow Ethiopia: Movement for Democracy and Social Justice.

Born in Addis Ababa, Mesfin received his earliest education at Tafari Mekonnen High School, and was a student of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, receiving ordination as a deacon in 1946. He completed his further education in London in 1951, and won a scholarship to study abroad. He received his B.A. from Punjab University, Chandigarh in 1955 and his M.S. from Clark University in the United States in 1957.

Mesfin was professor of geography at Haile Sellassie University (now Addis Ababa University or AAU), and for a time the head of the geography department. He was also a senior Fullbright scholar in 1971, 1986 and 1987. However according to Africa Action, he was fired in 1991 from AAU due to his critical view of the government of Ethiopia. The president of the University, Professor Andreas Eshete, who has had a close relationship with the countries leading political party, EPRDF, and the prime minster Meles Zenawi, is considered to have a major role in expelling Professor Mesfin from his teaching post.

Responding to a student petition, on 8 April 2001 Professor Mesfin and Dr. Berhanu Nega held a day-long panel discussion at the hall of the National Lottery on academic freedom. They were arrested on the allegations that this panel incited a student protest at AAU the next day, but released on bail 5 June and neither were ever tried.^[1] Professor Mesfin is the founder and former Chair of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council

In November 2005, the government of Ethiopia detained Mesfin on charges of treason, genocide, and outrage against the constitution, along with other leading members of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy. This charge was considered outrageous and baseless by many international observers including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and European Union. The Ethiopian government has a high influence in the court system in Ethiopia. The court was supposed to deliver the verdict on February 19, 2007. However, the court has postponed the verdict to March 01, 2007.

Professor Mesfin Woldemariam has won numerous awards for his struggle for equality and justice to the disadvantageous in his country.^[2] In 2006, he was nominated for the Sakharov Prize, the highest European Unions prize for human rights defenders.^[3]