Befekadu Degefe, a prominent economist and graduate of Vanderbilt’s Graduate Program in Economics, has been imprisoned with other scholars and humanitarians in Ethiopia. A treason trial is set for Feb. 19.

Degefe is a member of parliament in the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party, which is the opposition party in Ethiopia. He has been imprisoned since November 2006, and Amnesty International has declared him a “prisoner of conscience.”

A bill in Congress, House Resolution 5680, includes a provision that the United States seek the release of all political prisoners in Ethiopia. It was passed unanimously by the House International Relations Committee in June 2006, but has yet to reach the House floor for debate.

Degefe, who earned a master’s in economics from Vanderbilt in 1974, taught economics for 20 years at Addis Ababa University and has served as head of the Ethiopian Economics Association and worked as a policy researcher for the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

For information on who to contact to ask for the release of Degefe, visit the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party’s Web site at http://kinijitna.org/resourcecenter.html.

_{Posted 02/16/07}