Professor Asrat Woldeyes was born on 20 June 1928 and passed away on 14 May 1999. Asrat Weldeyes was an Ethiopian surgeon, a Professor of Medicine at Addis Ababa University, and the founder and leader of the All-Amhara People’s Organization (AAPO), as well as a political figure who was illegally jailed by the TPLF (Tigre People Liberation Front) and suffered a lot in prison because of the ill treatments of the racist TPLF Regime.

Professor Asrat was the founding member of the Ethiopian Medical Association (EMA), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (FRCS Edinburgh) and FRCS (England), member of the British Medical Association (BMA), the East African Surgical Association (EASA) and International College of Surgeons (USA).

Born in the capital city of Addis Ababa, Asrat Woldeyes was about three years old when his family moved to the eastern Ethiopian town of Dire Dawa. He was eight years old at the time of the Italian invasion. His father, Ato Weldeyes Altaye, was captured and murdered along with thousands of other civilians following the attempted assassination of the Italian General Graziani on February 19, 1937 in Addis Ababa. His mother died shortly afterwards.

His grandfather, Kegnazmach Tsige Werede Werk, was one of the Ethiopian patriots who was deported to Italy and interned there for three and half years. (Kegnazmach is a title of nobility in Ethiopian monarchical society equivalent to a baron).

Following the liberation of Ethiopia, Asrat Woldeyes moved to Addis Ababa and enrolled at Teferi Mekonnen School, where in 1943 he was awarded a camera for his studies. He was sent to Egypt to continue his education at Victoria College, then to the UK where he studied medicine at Edinburgh University. Completing his training, in 1956 he returned to Ethiopia to work as a general practitioner at the Princess Tsehai hospital (now known as the Armed Forces General Hospital) in the capital, then went back to Edinburgh to specialize in surgery.

He returned to Ethiopia to help in the creation of the first medical school in the country, which came into existence as a part of then Haile Selassie University (now Addis Ababa University) in 1965.

Professor Asrat was the personal physician to Emperor Haile Selassie. Following the overthrow of the Emperor in 1974, Professor Asrat performed prostate surgery on the Emperor and cared for him during his recovery. When the Emperor died suddenly in August 1975, the Derg regime announced that the death was caused by complications of this surgery and old age. The statement also alleged that Professor Asrat could not be located at the time the Emperor’s condition was deteriorating. Professor Asrat promptly issued a statement denying that the Emperor had suffered any complications from his surgery which had taken place months earlier, and that he had been available at his home, but that no attempt had been made to reach him.[citation needed]

After the Genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Amharas In Harar and Arsi areas by ethnic based groups in collaboration with TPLF. professor Asrat boldly denounced the Human rights Violations against the Amharas and established a civic organisation called the AAPO. Professor Asrat had been imprisoned by the TPLF and  because of the continued abuse and harassment in prison he was sick and his health had deteriorated further. TPLF  thugs freed him from the horrible prison cell when they realised that he will never recover again and he passed away in the US while he was being treated in Hospital.