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AAAS Human Rights Action Network

Letter of Appeal from the AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility

11 September 1998

Meles Zenawi
Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Prime Minister's Office
P.O. Box 1031
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Your Excellency:

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the largest organization of natural and social scientists in the United States, and the world's largest federation of scientific organizations, with 143,000 individual members and 275 affiliated groups.

In 1997, the AAAS Council passed a resolution calling for the immediate and unconditional release of scientists who are prisoners of conscience in Ethiopia, including Dr. Taye Wolde Semayat, a political scientist and chair of the Ethiopian Teachers' Association, who has been imprisoned since 30 May 1996. We have enclosed a copy of the AAAS resolution for your information.

We are writing to you today to express the Association's deep concern for Dr. Taye's life and well being. We have received recent reports indicating that the conditions of Dr. Taye's imprisonment have significantly deteriorated and that death threats have been made against him by prison guards.

According to our sources, Dr. Taye appeared in Court on 28 July 1998, at which time he reported that prison guards had threatened to shoot him. The judge then reportedly ordered that Dr. Taye be held in shackles twenty four hours a day until his next court appearance on 15 September 1998. We have also learned that he has been placed in a "darkness" cell, which does not have any natural light, but has constant electrical lighting, a severe form of punishment. We are concerned that harm could come to Dr. Taye prior to his next hearing. We believe that these conditions amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

AAAS has been following the case of Dr. Taye since 1992, when he was among 42 professors fired from Addis Ababa University in January of that year for writing a letter of protest against the government's violent reaction to a student demonstration. However, the current actions against Dr. Taye appear to be linked to his role as a former head of the Ethiopian teachers' union.

AAAS deplores the cruel and inhuman conditions of his confinement. We would like to point out that the imprisonment of Dr. Taye and the conditions under which he is currently held consititute serious violations of Ethiopia's international obligations under the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ratified by Ethiopia on 11 June 1993), the African Charter on Human and People's Rights, and the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

These protections include, the right to liberty and security of person, and to freely take part in public affairs and political life; the right to freedom of expression; the right to freedom of association and peaceful assembly; the right to be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person; the right to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal; and the right to be free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

It is our understanding that the current ill-treatment of Dr. Taye is also contrary to your government's own constitution, which states that all persons in custody, including sentenced prisoners, have the right to conditions which respect human dignity.

AAAS calls on your government to see to it that Dr. Taye is treated in accordance with international standards for the treatment of prisoners and that his human rights are respected. We urge you to see to it that your government's international treaty obligations are upheld and that your own constitution is enforced.

We welcome receiving any information you may have regarding the case of Dr. Taye and the conditions of his imprisonment.

We thank you for your attention to this very important matter.

Sincerely,



Irving Lerch Mary Gray
Co-chair Co-chair
AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom
and Responsibility and Responsibility


Enclosures

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