Mesfin Woldemariam ( Ge'ez: መስፍን ወልደ ማርያም; 23 April 1930 – 29 September 2020) was an Ethiopian academic and human rights activist.

Early life and education

Mesfin Woldermariam was born on 23 April 1930 in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

Ethiopian Empire The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historical ...

. Mesfin received his early education at Teferi Mekonnen School, and was a student of the

Ethiopian Orthodox Church The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን, ''Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan'') is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Chris ...

, 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 BA from

Punjab University, Chandigarh Panjab University (PU) is a collegiate public state university located in Chandigarh, Punjab. Funded through both State and Union governments, it is considered a state university. It traces its origins to the University of the Punjab in Laho ...

in 1955 and his MA and Ph.D. from

Clark University Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research universities in the ...

in 1977 by dissertation rural vulnerability to famine in Ethiopia. Mesfin was professor of geography at Haile Selassie University (now

Addis Ababa University Addis Ababa University (AAU) ( am, አዲስ አበባ ዩኒቨርሲቲ) is a national university located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is the oldest university in Ethiopia. AAU has thirteen campuses. Twelve of these are situated in Addis Ababa, ...

), and for a time was head of the geography department. He was also a senior

Fulbright scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

in 1971, 1986 and 1987. He retired in 1991.

Political activism

Responding to a student petition, on 8 April 2001 Mesfin and

Berhanu Nega Berhanu Nega ( am, ብርሃኑ ነጋ; born 6 December 1958) is an Ethiopian politician who is serving as the current Ministry of Education (Ethiopia), Minister of Education of Ethiopia. He previously was the mayor elect of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ...

held a day-long panel discussion at the hall of the National Lottery on

academic freedom Academic freedom is a moral and legal concept expressing the conviction that the freedom of inquiry by faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy as well as the principles of academia, and that scholars should have freedom to teac ...

. 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. In November 2005, the government of Ethiopia detained Mesfin on charges of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

and outrage against the constitution, along with other leading members of the

Coalition for Unity and Democracy The Coalition for Unity and Democracy ( Ge'ez : ቅንጅት ለአንድነት እና ዴሞክራሲ), commonly referred to by its English abbreviation CUD, or occasionally CDU; its Amharic abbreviation, used in Ethiopia, is Qinijit; in Englis ...

. This charge was considered to criminalize actions of free speech, freedom of association and freedom of expression that are guaranteed by international human rights laws, and has been condemned by many international observers including

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

and the European Union. He was held at

Kaliti Prison Kaliti Prison'' is a maximum security prison in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Commonly referred to as a gulag, it serves as the main prison of the country. It is 11 km south of central Addis Ababa, in Akaky Kaliti, the southernmost subcity of the ...

. During his incarceration, Mesfin took part in two

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

s in December 2005 and January 2006, protesting his detention and trial. He later contracted pneumonia, collapsing in his prison cell 18 August, and was taken to the hospital. The court was supposed to deliver the verdict on 19 February 2007. However, Mesfin, and 37 others were pronounced guilty on 11 June 2007. This judgment occurred after Mesfin refused to defend himself, insisting that the arrest, charges, detention and trial were politically motivated and that the trial was not likely to be fair. Along with 37 others, he was convicted on the basis of the prosecution evidence and prevented from making a statement in court after the prosecution case ended. The prosecutor is said to have presented video and audio evidence. The judge ruled that as they had not submitted a defense and were guilty as charged. Mesfin, along with the 37 other Ethiopian opposition party officials, prominent human rights defenders and journalists on trial with him, were freed on 20 July 2007. They received a pardon and had their political rights restored four days after most were sentenced to life in prison and others to prison terms of up to 15 years.

Death and funeral

Mesfin died on 29 September 2020 from complications brought by

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, at the age of 90. Mesfin's funeral took place on 6 October 2020, with many government officials, celebrities and family members attended. Professor

, spokesperson of the

House of Federation The House of Federation () is the upper house of the bicameral Federal Parliamentary Assembly, the parliament of Ethiopia. It has 112 members. Each Nation, Nationality and People shall be represented in the House of the Federation by at least o ...

Tagesse Chaffo, the

mayor of Addis Ababa The Mayor of Addis Ababa ( am, የአዲስ አበባ ከንቲባ) is head of the executive branch of Addis Ababa's municipal government. The mayor's office is located in Addis Ababa City Hall. Adanech Abebe is the first woman mayor and 32nd ma ...

Adanech Abebe Adanech Abebe ( om, Adaanach Abbabee) is an Ethiopian politician and attorney who is serving as the thirty-second mayor of Addis Ababa. She has been serving as a deputy mayor from 2020 until 2021. She previously was the Minister of Revenue and ...

, and the President of

Oromia Region Oromia (Amharic: ) ( om, Oromiyaa) is a regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. The capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa. It is bordered by the Somali Region to the east; the Amhara Region, the Afar Region and the Benish ...

Shimeles Abdisa also presented. In his funeral service statements, he was credited as the founder of the

Ethiopian Human Rights Council The Ethiopian Human Rights Council or EHRCO is an Ethiopian human rights non-governmental organisation created in 1991 by Mesfin Woldemariam and 31 colleagues shortly after the dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam was overthrown. EHRCO's funds and s ...

(EHRCO) and he also conducted various researches on famine and drought related topics, various socio economic thematic areas.

References

External links

Official website dedicated to Mesfin Wolde Mariam by his childrenA call for immediate release of Prof. Mesfin W/Mariam by Amnesty InternationalProf. Mesfin's controversial Book
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mesfin Woldemariam 1930 births 2020 deaths Academic staff of Addis Ababa University Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Ethiopia Clark University alumni Ethiopian prisoners and detainees Ethiopian human rights activists Rainbow Ethiopia: Movement for Democracy and Social Justice politicians Recipients of Ethiopian presidential pardons