Editing Political prisoner (section)

==Definitions==
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.<ref name=":1">{{cite journal|last=Steinert|first=Christoph Valentin|date=2021|title=Who Is a Political Prisoner?|journal=Journal of Global Security Studies|volume=6|issue=3|doi=10.1093/jogss/ogaa052|issn=2057-3170|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{cite book|last1=Greene|first1=Helen Taylor|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v_9yAwAAQBAJ&q=%22Political+prisoner%22|title=Encyclopedia of Race and Crime|last2=Gabbidon|first2=Shaun L.|date=14 April 2009|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4522-6609-1|pages=636–639|chapter=Political Prisoners}}</ref> 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".<ref name=":2" />

A number of organizations involved in human rights issues, as well as scholars studying them, have developed their own definitions,<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> some of which are presented below.

===Organizations===
====Amnesty International====
[[Amnesty International]] (AI) 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.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> The organisation defines the differences as follows:<ref>[http://www.amnesty-volunteer.org/aihandbook/ch3.html#Politicalprisoners "AI's FOCUS"]. Amnesty International. Retrieved 5 April 2012.</ref>
<blockquote>
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 contains a significant political element, in regard to the motivation of the prisoner's acts, the acts 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 [[Prisoner of conscience|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.
</blockquote>

====Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe====
The [[Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe]] has the following definition:
<blockquote>
A person deprived of their personal liberty is to be regarded as a 'political prisoner':
{{ordered list|type=lower-alpha
|if the detention has been imposed in violation of one of the fundamental guarantees set out in the [[European Convention on Human Rights]] and its Protocols, in particular [[freedom of thought]], conscience and [[freedom of religion|religion]], [[freedom of expression]] and [[freedom of information|information]], [[freedom of assembly]] and [[Freedom of association|association]];
|if the detention has been imposed for purely political reasons without connection to any offence;
|if, for political motives, the length of the detention or its conditions are clearly out of proportion to the offence the person has been found guilty of or is suspected of;
|if, for political motives, he or she is detained in a discriminatory manner as compared to other persons; or,
|if the detention is the result of proceedings which were clearly unfair and this appears to be connected with political motives of the authorities.<ref>{{cite web|title = The definition of political prisoner|url = http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-DocDetails-EN.asp?fileid=19150&lang=EN|access-date = 2015-11-23|date = 3 October 2012|publisher = Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe}}</ref>
}}
</blockquote>

====Assistance Association for Political Prisoners====
[[Burma|Burmese]] [[Assistance Association for Political Prisoners]] defines a political prisoner as "anyone who is arrested because of [their] perceived or real involvement in or supporting role in opposition movements with peaceful or resistance means".<ref name=AAAP>{{cite web|url=http://www.oxfordburmaalliance.org/uploads/9/1/8/4/9184764/the_recognition_of_political_prisoners_essential_to_democratic_and_national_reconciliation_process.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921114726/http://www.oxfordburmaalliance.org/uploads/9/1/8/4/9184764/the_recognition_of_political_prisoners_essential_to_democratic_and_national_reconciliation_process.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=21 September 2018| work=Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) | title=The recognition of political prisoners: essential to democratic and national reconciliation process|date=9 November 2011| access-date=20 August 2012}}</ref>

==== Congressional-Executive Commission on China ====
The US [[Congressional-Executive Commission on China]] defines a political prisoner broadly as any individual who is detained for exercising their "human rights under international law, such as peaceable assembly, freedom of religion, freedom of association, free expression, including the freedom to advocate peaceable social or political change, and to criticize government policy or government officials."<ref name=":2" />

=== Academics ===
==== Steinert (2020) ====
Christoph Valentin Steinert, who in 2020 reviewed 366 definitions of political prisoners used in (mainly English language) academic literature in 1956 and 2019, argued that any definition of political prisoner needs to avoid focusing on prisoners' individual motivations and that the term "should be exclusively reserved for victims of politically biased trials" (in other words, "victims of [[Political repression|state repression]]"), to avoid delegitimizing the term by diluting it with applications to prisoners of any possibly politically motivated action (which on the extreme end of the spectrum would include, for example, [[Ku Klux Klan]]ners, [[Neo-Nazism|neo-Nazis]], and [[Jihadism|jihadist]] [[Terrorism|terrorists]]). He specifically criticizes definitions of political prisoners as "individuals imprisoned for politically motivated actions" or "committing a political offense". He proposed the following definition:<ref name=":1" />

<blockquote>
Political prisoners are defined as individuals that are convicted and incarcerated in politically biased trials (or executive decisions in the absence of any trials). Trials are deemed politically biased if they are endorsed by the government and (a) lack a domestic legal basis, (b) violate principles of procedural justice, or (c) violate universal human rights.<ref name=":1" />
</blockquote>

Steinert noted that his definition does extend to prisoners "imprisoned for nonpolitical identities such as their religious beliefs or their sexual orientations", as well as individuals engaged in violent actions, arguing that the neutral "classification as a political prisoner neither entails an a priori judgment about the moral legitimacy of prisoners' actions nor does it imply that individuals committed politically motivated crimes".<ref name=":1" />

===Other aspects===
The purpose of political prisons and of imprisoning dissidents is to demonstrate the strength of the regime to the dissidents. The regime's opponents are isolated, and stigmatised, frequently abused, and tortured. The goal of such treatment is not just to punish those opposing the regime, but to frighten those who consider opposing the regime by demonstrating the power of the regime by sending a clear warning that objecting is not tolerated, and that the regime is well prepared and ready to punish the objectors through the creation of [[total institution]]s dedicated to hosting political prisoners.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" />

The status of a political prisoner is conveyed to one only after their detention. Before that, potential political prisoners may be referred to as "[[Dissident|dissidents]], [[Revolutionary|revolutionaries]], [[Reformism (historical)|social reformers]], or radical thinkers". The nature of the behavior that leads to political imprisonment is hard to define and can be roughly described as any "activity deemed questionable by ruling [[elite]]s".<ref name=":2" /> Therefore, political prisoners may be officially detained and sentenced for a multitude of different transgressions, rather than a single well-defined crime.<ref name=":2" /> Political prisoners are frequently arrested and tried with a veneer of [[legal process|legality]] where false [[Criminal law|criminal]] [[indictment|charges]], [[Falsified evidence|manufactured evidence]], and unfair trials ([[kangaroo court]]s, [[show trial]]s) are used to disguise the fact that an individual is a political prisoner.<ref name=":1" /> For example, AAPP states that "the motivation behind the arrest of every individual in AAPP's database is political, regardless of the laws they have been sentenced under".<ref name="AAAP" /> This is common in situations which may otherwise be decried nationally and internationally as a [[human rights]] violation or suppression of a [[political dissident]]. Steinert notes that "objective evidence about politically biased imprisonments is chronically sparse considering that governments face substantial incentives to hide repressive practices".<ref name=":1" /> As a rule, governments deny imprisoning individuals for their political activities.<ref name=":2" />
[[File:Turkish journalists protesting imprisonment of their colleagues in 2016.jpg|thumb|Turkish journalists protesting imprisonment of their colleagues on [[Human Rights Day]], 10 December 2016]]
A political prisoner can also be someone who has been denied [[bail]] unfairly, denied [[parole]] when it would reasonably have been given to a prisoner charged with a comparable crime, or special powers may be invoked by the judiciary. Particularly in this latter situation, whether an individual is regarded as a political prisoner may depend upon the subjective political perspective or interpretation of the evidence.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}} Political prisoners can also be imprisoned with no legal veneer by [[Extrajudicial punishment|extrajudicial processes]]{{citation needed|date=July 2021}} or even through executive decisions in the absence of any trials or [[Criminal charge|charges]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" /> Some political prisoners need not be imprisoned at all, as they can be subject to prolonged pre-trial [[Detention (imprisonment)|detainment]] instead. Steinert noted that technically, political detainees should be distinguished from political prisoners, but they are often grouped together, and in practical terms, he recommends treating them as ''special types'' of political prisoners.<ref name=":1" /> Examples of such detainees can include individuals such as the former [[Nobel Peace Prize]] Laureate [[Aung San Suu Kyi]], detained for many years without a trial.<ref name=":1" /> Likewise, supporters of Tibetan spiritual leader [[Gedhun Choekyi Nyima]] in the [[11th Panchen Lama controversy]] have called him a "political prisoner", despite the fact that he is not accused of a political offense. He is held under secluded [[house arrest]].<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4551425.stm | work=BBC News | title=Tibet's missing spiritual guide | date=16 May 2005 | access-date=3 May 2010}}</ref>

Political prisoners may become the subjects of international advocacy and receive aid from various non-governmental organizations.<ref name=":1" /> Criticism from the international public opinion has been shown to facilitate the release of political detainees, or reduce their sentences, but is less effective in securing the release of already-sentenced individuals.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Gruffydd-Jones|first=Jamie J|date=4 March 2021|title=International Attention and the Treatment of Political Prisoners|journal=International Studies Quarterly|volume=65|issue=4|pages=999–1011|doi=10.1093/isq/sqab017|issn=0020-8833|doi-access=free}}</ref> When the status of political prisoner is well known, it can be seen as a form of [[status symbol]]. Some political prisoners purposefully frame themselves as "the imprisoned martyrs and leaders of their movement." Which can safeguard their well-being in prison.<ref name=":0" />