Prisoner of conscience (POC) is a term coined by the human rights group Amnesty International Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation. Its stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated." in the early 1960s. It can refer to anyone imprisoned because of their race The term race or racial group usually refers to the categorization of humans into populations or ancestral groups on the basis of various sets of heritable characteristics. The physical features commonly seen as indicating race are salient visual traits such as skin color, cranial or facial features and hair texture. Conceptions of race, as well, religion Religion is the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or in general a set of beliefs explaining the existence of and giving meaning to the universe, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs, color Human skin color can range from almost black to nearly colorless (appearing pinkish white due to the blood vessels under the skin). Skin color is determined primarily by the amount and type of melanin. Variations in skin color are mainly genetic in origin, language Language is a term most commonly used to refer to so called "natural languages" — the forms of communication considered peculiar to humankind. By extension the term also refers to the type of human thought process which creates and uses language. Essential to both meanings is the systematic creation, maintenance and use of systems of, sexual orientation, belief Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true, or lifestyle Lifestyle is a term to describe the way a person lives, which was originally coined by Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler in 1929. The current broader sense of the word dates from 1961. A set of behaviors, and the senses of self and belonging which these behaviors represent, are collectively used to define a given lifestyle. The term is defined so long as they have not used or advocated violence Violence is the expression of physical or verbal force against self or other, compelling action against one's will on pain of being hurt. Worldwide, violence is used as a tool of manipulation and also is an area of concern for law and culture which take attempts to suppress and stop it. The word violence covers a broad spectrum. It can vary from. It also refers to those who have been imprisoned and/or persecuted for the non-violent expression of their conscientiously-held beliefs.
On 28 May 1961, the article The Forgotten Prisoners launched the campaign 'Appeal for Amnesty 1961' and first defined a 'prisoner of conscience'.[1]
| “ | Any person who is physically restrained (by imprisonment or otherwise) from expressing (in any form of words or symbols) any opinion which he honestly holds and which does not advocate or condone personal violence." We also exclude those people who have conspired with a foreign government to overthrow their own. | ” |
The primary goal for this year-long campaign, founded by the English lawyer Peter Benenson and a small group of writers, academics and lawyers, particularly the Quaker Some branches of the Religious Society of Friends are known to the general public today for testifying to their religious beliefs by refusing to participate in wars, and by social action, for instance on behalf of the environment and equal rights for all. In the past they were known for wearing particular clothing ; by using outdated modes of peace activist Eric Baker Eric Baker was one of the founders of the human rights group Amnesty International and the second general secretary of the organisation. He was also a founder of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, was to identify individual 'prisoners of conscience' around the world and then campaign for their release. In early 1962 the campaign had received enough public support to become a permanent organization and was renamed 'Amnesty International'.
Under British law, Amnesty International was classed as a political organisation and therefore excluded from tax-free charity status.[2] To work around this, the ‘Fund for the Persecuted’ was established in 1962 to receive donations to support prisoners and their families. The name was later changed to the 'Prisoners of Conscience Appeal Fund' and is now a separate and independent charity.[3]
Amnesty International has, since its founding, pressured governments to release those persons it considers to be prisoners of conscience.[4][5] Governments, conversely, tend to deny that the specific prisoners identified by Amnesty International are, in fact, being held on the grounds Amnesty claims and possess a genuine threat to the security of their country.[citation needed]
The phrase is now widely used in political discussions to describe a political prisoner A political prisoner is someone held in prison or otherwise detained, perhaps under house arrest, for his or her involvement in political activity, whether or not Amnesty International has specifically adopted the case, although the phrase has a different scope and definition than that of political prisoner A political prisoner is someone held in prison or otherwise detained, perhaps under house arrest, for his or her involvement in political activity.[6]
See also
- People
- Kareem Amer Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman Amer (born c. 1984) is an Egyptian blogger and former law student. He was arrested by Egyptian authorities for posts on his blog that were considered to be anti-religious and insulting to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. On February 22, 2007, in his native city Alexandria, Amer was sentenced to three years of, detained 2005, 2006- in Egypt for seditious Sedition is a term of law which refers to overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority as tending toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any commotion, though not aimed at Internet postings and atheism Atheism, in a broad sense, is the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. Most inclusively, atheism is simply the absence of belief that any deities exist. Atheism is contrasted with theism, which in its most general form is the belief that at least one[7]
- Anwar Ibrahim Dato' Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim is a Malaysian politician who served as Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister from 1993 to 1998. Early in his career, Anwar was a close ally of Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad but subsequently emerged as the most prominent critic of Mahathir's government, opposition leader, detained 1998-2004, 2008 for corruption and sodomy in Malaysia, currently charged with sodomy[8]
- Travis Bishop, army sergeant, detained 2009- for disobeying orders in the United States, after refusing to deploy to Afghanistan[9]
- Chia Thye Poh, former opposition MP A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of parliament tend to form parliamentary parties with members, detained 1966-1998 in Singapore on suspicion of ties with the Malayan Communist Party The Malayan Communist Party , officially known as the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), was founded in 1930 and laid down its arms in 1989. It is most famous for its role in the Malayan Emergency[10]
- Angela Davis Angela Davis is an American socialist, philosopher, political activist and retired professor with the History of Consciousness Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She was the director of the university's Feminist Studies department. Davis was a vibrant activist during the Civil Rights Movement and was associated with the Black[citation needed]
- Gus Hall Gus Hall was a leader of the Communist Party USA and its four-time U.S. presidential candidate. As a labor leader, Hall was closely associated with the so-called "Little Steel" Strike of 1937, an effort to unionize the nation's smaller, regional steel manufacturers[citation needed]
- Angelo Herndon Angelo Braxton Herndon . Angelo Herndon was an African American communist organizer arrested and convicted for insurrection after attempting to organize black industrial workers in 1932 in Atlanta, Georgia. (The prosecution case heavily rested on Herndon's possession of "communist literature.")[citation needed]
- George Jackson[citation needed]
- Valery Levaneuski - opposition leader, detained 2004-2006 in Belarus for insult to the President of Belarus[11]
- Jacinta Francisco Marcial In March 2006, six plainclothes agents of Mexico's Federal Investigations Agency raided a market in Santiago Mexquititlán, Querétaro, in search of unauthorized copies of copyrighted works. The agents later alleged that they were held hostage by vendors during the raid. Three women were convicted of the alleged kidnapping. In September 2009, one, detained 2006-2009 in Mexico for kidnapping AFI The Federal Investigations Agency was a elite Mexican federal agency that existed from November 1, 2001 to May 29, 2009 to fight corruption and organized crime, through an executive order by President Vicente Fox Quesada. The AFI replaced an earlier agency, the Federal Judicial Police. The agency was directed by the Attorney General's Office (PGR) agents[12]
- Mohamed Nasheed Mohamed Nasheed (born May 17, 1967) is the current President of the Maldives. He is the founder of the Maldivian Democratic Party and was its presidential candidate in the October 2008 presidential election, defeating long-time President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in a second round of voting. He was sworn in as President on November 11, 2008, Current President, former journalist and MP, detained sporadically from 1991-2006 in the Maldives.[13]
- Leonard Peltier[citation needed]
- Simon Sheppard[citation needed]
- Karpal Singh Karpal Singh (born June 28, 1940) is a Malaysian politician and a lawyer by profession. He is the current chairman of the Democratic Action Party and a member of Parliament for Bukit Gelugor, Penang. He won the seat in the 2004 general election. He is an ethnic Punjabi and a prominent lawyer in Malaysia, well known for his expertise in the field, opposition MP A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of parliament tend to form parliamentary parties with members and lawyer, detained 1987-1989 for sedition in Malaysia, currently charged with sedition[14]
- Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi is a Burmese opposition politician and was General Secretary of the National League for Democracy. In the 1990 general election, Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won a landslide victory, gaining 59 per cent of the vote and 394 of 492 seats. Some people claim that this implies Suu Kyi was elected Prime, opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel Laureate, detained 1989-1995, 2000-2002, 2003- in Burma[15]
- Sanjar Umarov Sanjar Guiess Umarov is a prominent Uzbek politician and businessman. He is the chairman of Sunshine Uzbekistan, the main party in opposition to president Islom Karimov's authoritarian rule. He was arrested in October 2005 for embezzlement—charges his supporters say are politically motivated—and went on trial in January 2006[citation needed]
- Mushahid Hussain Syed - Pakistani politician, detained in 1999 for 440 days
- Woo Yong Gak[citation needed]
- Ayşe Nur Zarakolu Ayşe Nur Zarakolu (9 May 1946 – 28 January 2002) was a Turkish author, publisher and human rights advocate. She was co-founder, with her husband Ragıp Zarakolu, of notable Turkish publishing house Belge and in the 1980s became the director of book-distribution company Cemmay, the first woman in the nation to hold such a position. Zarakolu's, detained sporadically 1982 until her death in 2002 in Turkey for violations of press laws Press Laws are the laws concerning the licensing of books and the liberty of expression in all products of the printing-press, especially newspapers[citation needed]. The liberty of the press has always been regarded by political writers as of supreme importance. Give me liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above[16]
References
| This article's citation style may be unclear. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking. (September 2009) |
- ^ London office to gather facts
- ^ Hopgood, Steven (2006). Keepers of the Flame: The Understanding Amnesty International. Cornell University Press. pp. 70.
- ^ Prisoners of Conscience Appeal Fund
- ^ Amnesty International - History of Organization
- ^ Amnesty International
- ^ BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Freed China prisoner reaches US
- ^ "Karim Amer, Prisoner of Conscience". Amnesty International USA. http://www.amnestyusa.org/individuals-at-risk/priority-cases/karim-amer/page.do?id=1361068. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
- ^ "Anwar Ibrahim: The Campaign For The Release Of A Prisoner Of Conscience". Amnesty International Asia Pacific Regional Office. http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/apro/APROweb.nsf/pages/goodnewsAnwarIbrahim. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
- ^ USA: Soldier imprisoned as conscientious objector: Travis Bishop
- ^ "Singapore: Restrictions on Singapore's longest-serving political prisoner lifted". Amnesty International. 1998-11-27. http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA36/006/1998/en/41ed837c-e774-11dd-9edc-8be7e550cfe5/asa360061998en.html. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
- ^ Valerii Levonevskii and Aleksander Vasiliev were imprisoned for publishing a poem
- ^ "Libertad para Jacinta Marcial". Amnesty International. 2009-08. http://www.amnesty.org/es/library/asset/AMR41/041/2009/es/71d973c4-9936-4545-808f-6641e3bc90e5/amr410412009eng.html. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
- ^ "Continued detention of prisoner of conscience, Mohammed Nasheed". Amnesty International. 1996-05-01. http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA290021996. Retrieved 2009-09-22.
- ^ "Eight charged in Malaysian internet clampdown". Amnesty International. 2009-03-17. http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/eight-charged-malaysian-internet-clampdown-20090317. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
- ^ "Time to release Aung San Suu Kyi". Amnesty International. 2008-03-25. http://www.amnesty.org/en/appeals-for-action/time-release-aung-san-suu-kyi. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
- ^ Corley, Felix (2002-02-14). "Ayse Nur Zarakolu". The Independent The Independent is a British newspaper published by Alexander Lebedev's Independent Print Limited. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily newspapers. The daily edition was named National Newspaper of the Year at the 2004 British. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ayse-nur-zarakolu-729747.html. Retrieved 2009-09-22.
- Buchanan, Tom (October 2002). "'The Truth Will Set You Free': The Making of Amnesty International". Journal of Contemporary History 37 (4): 575–597.
External links
- Amnesty International resource about prisoners of conscience
- Prisoners of Conscience Appeal Fund
- Foundation for the Defense of Prisoners of Conscience
- Prisoners Union - organization o political prisoners in Russia
- Amnesty International Urgent Action Network
Categories: Amnesty International Categories: Human rights organizations | Anti-death penalty organisations | Imprisonment and detention This category contains articles about depriving people of their liberty in any context, whether as pre-trial detention, punishment for committing crimes, extrajudicial punishment, prisoners of war, arbitrary arrest and detention, internment, extraordinary rendition, extrajudicial detention, forced disappearances , or otherwise. See Category:Penal
The West Australian, Australia
One of the security guards blamed for the death of an Aboriginal elder in the back of a faulty prison van has broken her silence, saying the tragedy weighed heavily on her conscience but there was nothing she could have done to prevent it. ...
Security guard apologises for elder's death The West Australian
all 28 news articles
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11 6 2009 uploaded photo of 38 postcards which were collected during our exhibition Heroes and Heroines May 2009 all cards were sent to Eynulla
DrEthiopia
Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:44:15 GM
Also detained is Tsige Habte-Mariam, the 80-year-old father of another well-known opposition figure and former . prisoner of conscience. , now in exile, Andargachew Tsige. Tsige Habte-Mariam is diabetic and has recently had heart surgery. ...
Q. I'm looking for specific examples of prisoners of conscience in the current-day USA or UK?
Asked by Chicago Pride - Fri May 18 11:47:56 2007 - - 4 Answers - 0 Comments
A. Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier are two major ones. Other smaller ones: abdul aziz location currently unknown! abdul majid #83-A-0483 Drawer B Stormville, NY 12582-0010 Green Haven Correctional Facility alvaro luna hernandez #255735 Hughes Unit Rt. 2, Box 4400 Gatesville, TX 76597 antonio guerrero #58741-004 P.O. Box 7500 Florence, CO 81226 U.S.P. Florence bashir hameed (J. YORK) #82-A-6313 P.O. Box 51 Comstock, New York 12821 Great Meadow Correctional Facility bill dunne #10916-086 P.O. Box 2068 Inez, KY 41224 USP Big Sandy byron shane chubbuck p.O. Box 26030 Beaumont, TX 77720 USP Beaumont carlos alberto torres #88976-024 P.O. Box 1000 Oxford, WI 53952 FCI Oxford chuck sims africa #AM-4975 P.O. Box 244 Graterford, PA… [cont.]
Answered by Liberated Parasite - Fri May 18 11:56:45 2007
