Political prisoner – Wikipedia

Someone imprisoned for his or her political activity

A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner’s detention.

There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although numerous similar definitions have been proposed by various organizations and scholars, and there is a general consensus among scholars that ” individuals have been sanctioned by legal systems and imprisoned by political regimes not for their violation of codified laws but for their thoughts and ideas that have fundamentally challenged existing power relations “. [ 1 ] The status of a political prisoner is generally awarded to individuals based on declarations of non-governmental organizations like Amnesty International, on a case-by-case basis. While such status are often widely recognized by the international public opinion, they are often rejected by individual governments accused of holding political prisoners, which tend to deny any bias in their judicial systems. [ 1 ] [ 2 ]A related term is prisoner of conscience, popularized by Amnesty International. It describes someone who was prosecuted because of their personal beliefs .Some prisons, known as political prisons, are focused or even dedicated solely to hosting political prisoners. [ 3 ]The concept of a political prisoner, like many concepts in social sciences, sports numerous definitions, and is undefined in international law and human right treaties. [ 2 ] [ 1 ] Helen Taylor Greene and Shaun L. Gabbidon in 2009 that ” standard legal definitions have remained elusive “, but at the same time, observing that there is a general consensus that ” individuals have been sanctioned by legal systems and imprisoned by political regimes not for their violation of codified laws but for their thoughts and ideas that have fundamentally challenged existing power relations “. [ 1 ]A number of organizations involved in human rights issues, as well as scholars studying them, have developed their own definitions, [ 2 ] [ 1 ] some of which are presented below .Amnesty International campaigns for the release of prisoners of conscience, which include both political prisoners as well as those imprisoned for their religious or philosophical beliefs. To reduce controversy, and as a matter of principle, the organization’s policy applies only to prisoners who have not committed or advocated violence. Thus, there are political prisoners who do not fit the narrower criteria for POCs. [ 2 ] [ 1 ] The organisation defines the differences as follows : [ 4 ]AI uses the term ” political prisoner ” broadly. It does not use it, as some others do, to imply that all such prisoners have a special status or should be released. It uses the term only to define a category of prisoners for whom AI demands a fair and prompt trial .In AI’s usage, the term includes any prisoner whose case has a significant political element : whether the motivation of the prisoner’s acts, the acts in themselves, or the motivation of the authorities .” Political ” is used by AI to refer to aspects of human relations related to ” politics ” : the mechanisms of society and civil order, the principles, organization, or conduct of government or public affairs, and the relation of all these to questions of language, ethnic origin, sex or religion, status or influence ( among other factors ) .The category of political prisoners embraces the category of prisoners of conscience, the only prisoners who AI demands should be immediately and unconditionally released, as well as people who resort to criminal violence for a political motive .In AI’s use of the term, here are some examples of political prisoners :

• a person accused or convicted of an ordinary crime carried out for political motives, such as murder or robbery carried out to support the objectives of an opposition group;
• a person accused or convicted of an ordinary crime committed in a political context, such as at a demonstration by a trade union or a peasants’ organization;
• a member or suspected member of an armed opposition group who has been charged with treason or “subversion”.

Governments often say they have no political prisoners, only prisoners held under the normal criminal law. AI however describes cases like the examples given above as ” political ” and uses the terms ” political trial ” and ” political imprisonment ” when referring to them. But by doing so AI does not oppose the imprisonment, except where it further maintains that the prisoner is a prisoner of conscience, or condemn the trial, except where it concludes that it was unfair .