Subject: ETHIOPIA: MORE ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM,
FREE
EXPRESSION
18 May 1994
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE
ADVANCEMENT OF
SCIENCE
HUMAN RIGHTS ACTION NETWORK
(AAASHRAN)
ETHIOPIA — UPDATE OF ALERT ON ACADEMIC
FREEDOM AND
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION —
DISMISSAL OF 42 PROFESSORS INCLUDING SOCIAL
SCIENTISTS, PHYSICAL
SCIENTISTS, ENGINEERS, LINGUISTS AND ECONOMISTS,
ARREST OF STUDENTS,
AND RECENT ARREST OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE
ETHIOPIAN CHEMICAL
ASSOCIATION, BERHANE MEWA.
CASE NUMBER(S): ET9315TEFERRA and ET9413MEWA
[Note: A previous
Alert was
distributed on this case on 17 November 1993.]
ISSUES: Dismissal of a significant number of professors
in the social and physical
sciences, including the immediate past president of the University,
and former dean of the Faculty
of Technology, Dr. Alemayehu Teferra, the arrest of Dr. Teferra and
a number students, and the
arrest of the Chairman of the Ethiopian Chemical Association,
Berhane Mewa. Relevant Human
Rights issues include: Guarantees of security of the person,
prohibition against arbitrary arrest, the
right to be informed of charges and to be tried within a reasonable
time or released, and the right
to be presumed innocent and to be tried without undue delay.
FACTS OF THE CASE: The 42 professors that were
dismissed on April 9, 1993,
received a form letter from the newly appointed President of the
University, Dr. Duri Mohamed,
informing them that their applications would not be considered
because their services were no
longer needed. This occurred during the term of coverage of valid
contracts, without prior notice
and without a hearing. The professors involved had written a letter
of protest against the
government’s violent reaction to a student demonstration in
January 1993. There is concern that
the professors were dismissed because of their political affiliations,
although there have also been
claims that the dismissals were ethnically motivated.
In an atmosphere of fear, the professors faced difficulties in
retaining a lawyer to represent
them, they are currently being represented by a lawyer who was
among the 42 dismissed. A suit
has been filed in court. There was a court hearing in January 1994
to ascertain to what extent
there was a case to pursue. The relevant government authorities
claimed that the dismissed
university professors had not been legal government employees.
They claimed that earlier
contracts were not legal, and that the teachers were simply not
required for the new contract, so
the government had no case to answer as the teachers were neither
government employees nor
former government employees.
The court summoned the minister of education and the
commissioner of the Commission for
Personnel Affairs (CPA), or at least their representatives, to appear
in court in March. No one
turned up from the CPA. The court has now summoned the
Minister of Education and the
Commissioner of the CPA to appear in court personally. The
lawyers have not yet raised the
issue of pensions. None of the professors have been
reinstated.
AAAS has received no information concerning the status of the
18 students arrested after the
student demonstration. In addition, the immediate past president of
Addis Ababa University, the
only President to be voted into office by the faculty, Dr.
Alemayehu Teferra, was arrested in April
1993. Although he was reportedly absolved of any crime by the
new authorities in 1991, Dr.
Alemayehu has been accused of involvement in the “red terror”
activities of the previous regime
while chairman of a local urban-dwellers association in Addis
Ababa during that time. We have
received reliable reports that Dr. Alemayehu is suffering from a
chronic duodenal ulcer for which
he needs medical attention. He has been imprisoned without
charge for over one year.
We have also received reports that Berhane Mewa, Chairman of
the Ethiopian Chemical
Association, was detained on February 9, 1994. Dr. Berhane is a
respected businessman and
owner of “Netsa Gazetta,” an independent newspaper. The court
ordered the release of Dr.
Berhane, but he was rearrested immediately apparently in
connection with an article he published
containing a statement by a group called the Ethiopian Unity
Brigade, which claimed responsibility
for an attack on a US Diplomat. He has been accused of belonging
to the group on which he
reported. The Committee to Protect Journalists ranks Ethiopia
second to China in its Annual
Report, “Attacks on the Press in 1993.” Although the Ethiopian
Government has committed itself
to freedom of expression in the Transitional Period Charter of
Ethiopia, in effect the interim
constitution, through intimidation, harassment, and arbitrary arrests
the TGE is clearly violating
Article One of the Charter which provides that “individual human
rights shall be respected fully in
accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” and
specifies that everyone shall
have the “freedom of conscience, expression, association and
peaceable assembly…”
Ethiopia ratified the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on
June 11, 1993. Their first report
to the United Nations Human Rights Committee is due on June 11,
1994. Having ratified the
covenant, Ethiopia has a legal obligation to guarantee the security
of the person and prohibit
arbitrary arrest (Article 9 of the Covenant), must inform individuals
of the charges against them
and individuals must be tried within a reasonable time or released
(Article 9 of the Covenant),
must presume individuals innocent until proven guilty and
individuals must be tried without undue
delay (Article 4 of the Covenant).
On October 30, 1993, AAAS received a fax from Chief Special
Prosecutor Girma Wakjira
confirming that over 1,000 individuals are languishing in prison
without formal charge. Although
he confirms Ethiopia’s “moral and legal obligation” to process the
cases the current policy of the
Special Prosecutors Office is that “once the detainees and target
defendants are categorized,
analyzing the evidence available, the present political situation, the
capacity of the courts and our
international legal obligations related to fair and speedy trial, and
our moral and legal obligations to
the victims, charges will be readied and submitted to the court.”
This policy, which in some cases
takes years, is clearly in violation of Ethiopia’s legal obligations
under the Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights. In addition, in some instances judicial orders are
not carried out by local law
enforcement agencies. Individuals are either not released or if they
are released they are
immediately rearrested as in the case of Dr. Mewa. Unless these
prisoners are either freed or
brought to trial the AAAS will make a submission to the Human
Rights Committee pointing out
serious violations.
The AAAS has written five appeal letters to the Ethiopian
government on behalf of Dr.
Alemayehu, the 42 professors, and students arrested after the
student demonstration. AAAS has
also requested that the individuals be released from prison
immediately if they are not formally
charged with a crime.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send telegrams,
telexes, faxes or airmail
letters:
o expressing concern regarding the dismissals and arrests;
o indicating that these actions are inconsistent with standards
of academic freedom, freedom
of expression, security of the person and other human rights
standards, including those contained
in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Ethiopia has
approved;
o requesting updated information on whether those professors
who have been dismissed have
been (or will be) reinstated, and whether Dr. Teferra and the
arrested students have been made
aware of the charges against them, brought to trial, provided with
adequate legal assistance, and
(hopefully) released; and
o suggesting the reinstatement of the dismissed professors,
and the release of Dr. Teferra
and the students still detained.
[Source of information on this case: Amnesty International Urgent
Action Appeal Number UA
147/93 and subsequent updates.]
APPEAL MESSAGES AND LETTERS SHOULD BE SENT
TO:
President Meles Zenawi
Office of the President
Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA
(Telegrams: President Meles Zenawi, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Africa)
(Telexes: 9976-21050 (c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs))
(Faxes: 011-251-1-514300 c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs))
[Salutation: Your Excellency]
Her Excellency Genet Zewde
Minister of Education
Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA
(Telegrams, telex and fax as above)
[Salutation: Your Excellency]
COPIES OF APPEALS SHOULD BE SENT TO:
Ambassador Berhane Gebre-Christos
Ethiopian Embassy
2134 Kalorama Road, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Duri Mohamed, President
Addis Ababa University
P.O. Box 1176
Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA
The Honorable Thomas Johnston
Subcommittee on Africa
Committee on Foreign Affairs
816 O’Neill House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
M. David Shinn
Department of State
Director of Office of East African Affairs
2201 C Street, NW, Room 5240
Washington, DC 20520
Mr. George E. Moose
Assistant Secretary for African Affairs
US Department of State, Rm. 6234A
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dr. Theodros Solomon
Addis Ababa University Faculty of Science
P.O. Box 1176
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Addis Ababa University Teachers Association
P.O. Box 1176
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Edward V.K. Jaycox
Vice President, Africa Region
The World Bank
1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing
Countries
P.O. Box 16140
Klarabergsgatan 23
S-10323 Stockholm
SWEDEN
Reference can be made to the AAAS Human Rights Action
Network and the AAAS appeal
letters (attached) if you with, although appeals written in your own
professional capacity or on
behalf of your own organization tend to be given greater weight.
The keys to effective appeals
are to be: courteous and respectful; accurate and precise; impartial
in approach; and as specific
as possible regarding the human rights standards and instruments
that apply to the situation. For
further information on the case or on the AAASHRAN network,
contact:
Morton Sklar, AAAS Science and Human Rights Program, 1333 H
Street, NW, Washington, DC
20005, tele: (202) 326-6799; fax: (202) 289-4950;
E-Mail: [email protected] on the Internet system. Between
May 18 and 25, if you
need an immediate response, please send your E-Mail messages to
[email protected].
Please send us copies of any appeals you distribute.
April 5, 1994
Ambassador Berhane Gebre-Christos
Embassy of Ethiopia
2134 Kalorama Road, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Dear Ambassador Gebre-Christos:
Having received no written response to my letters of May 11,
1993, October 12, 1993, and
January 11, 1994, I am once again writing to you on behalf of the
AAAS Committee on Scientific
Freedom and Responsibility. In my previous letters I requested
information concerning the 42
professors dismissed from Addis Ababa University, students
arrested for their participation in the
January, 1993 student demonstrations, and Dr. Alemayehu
Teferra arrested in April,
1993. Not only are these concerns still pressing, but we have
received additional
information that is cause for alarm to those interested in the
internationally recognized human
rights of the citizens of Ethiopia.
It has been one full year since the imprisonment of Dr.
Alemayehu Teferra, yet he has not
been charged with a crime. In addition, we have received reliable
reports that Dr. Alemayehu is
suffering from a chronic duodenal ulcer for which he needs medical
attention. The Committee
has now learned that Berhane Mewa, Chairman of the Ethiopian
Chemical Association, has been
detained. We would like to know what charges have been brought
against Dr. Berhane as well as
any of the details leading to his arrest.
On October 30, 1993, we received via fax a two-page update on
the current situation from
Chief Special Prosecutor Girma Wakjira. He confirmed that over
1,000 individuals were being
held without charge. He confirmed Ethiopia’s “moral and legal
obligations” to process these cases
quickly, outlined several initiatives that were being taken to obtain
expert assistance from the
international community for this purpose, and indicated a target
date of the first quarter of 1994 for
the commencement of trials.
Although we appreciate the concerns you have expressed and
understand the complexity of
the process of reforms you are undertaking, these factors do not
eliminate the necessity to provide
basic protections to the accused, as is required under international
human rights law. If it has
become impossible to do so because of practical reasons, the
accused must be released, given the
substantial period of time that has elapsed since their arrests.
Later this year, we understand that the Human Rights
Committee of the United Nations will
be reviewing Ethiopia’s first report submitted to that body since
you ratified the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Unless these prisoners are
either freed or brought to trial
by that time, we will feel obliged to make a submission to the
Human Rights Committee pointing
out serious violations of the guarantees of security of the person
and prohibition against arbitrary
arrest in Article 9 of the Covenant, the right to be informed of
charges and to be tried within a
reasonable time or released, also in Article 9, and the rights to be
presumed innocent and to be
tried without undue delay in Article 14.
Once again, the Committee respectfully requests that both Dr.
Alemayehu and Dr. Berehane
Mewa, in addition to any students that remain in detention for their
participation in the January,
1993 demonstrations, be released from prison immediately if they
are not formally charged with a
crime. We urge your government to cease the arrests of individuals
who are not promptly
charged with a criminal offense, and therefore are denied a speedy
and fair trial as required under
Articles 9 and 14 of the Civil and Political Rights Covenant.
As mentioned in my earlier correspondence, the Committee will
continue to work on behalf of
these individuals until we are satisfied that their international
human rights are protected. In
addition, it will be impossible to report favorably on the situation in
Ethiopia in our Directory of
Persecuted Scientists this year if no information is received from
your office concerning these
matters. Although you have frequently repeated your commitment
to provide more
comprehensive information on cases of alleged human rights
violations, these promises have not
been carried out, leaving us with the impression that no progress is
being made on these violations
of international human rights standards.
Sincerely,
C.K. Gunsalus
Chair, AAAS Committee on Scientific
Freedom and Responsibility
cc: His Excellency President Meles Zenawi
His Excellency Prime Minister Tamrat Layne
Her Excellency Mrs. Genet Zewde, Minister of Education
The Honorable Marc Baas, US Ambassador to Ethiopia
The Honorable Thomas Johnston, Subcommittee on Africa,
Committee on Foreign Affairs
M. David Shinn, Department of State, Director of Office of East
African Affairs
Mr. George E. Moose, Assistant Secretary for African Affairs,
U.S. Department of State
Ms. G. Pratt, Ethiopia Desk, U.S. Department of State
Dr. Theodros Solomon, Addis Ababa University Faculty of
Science
Addis Ababa University Teachers Association
African Association of Universities
Mr. Edward V.K. Jaycox, The World Bank