Editing Political prisoner (section)

== History ==
[[Ancient Greek]] philosopher [[Socrates]] has been described as perhaps the earliest known political prisoner; imprisoned for allegedly "poisoning" the minds of Grecian youth through his critique of Athenian society and its rulers.<ref name=":2" /> Early Christians, including [[Jesus|Jesus Christ]], and [[Saint Peter|St. Peter]], have also been described as such.<ref name=":3">{{cite journal|last=Kenney|first=Padraic|date=October 2012|title="I felt a kind of pleasure in seeing them treat us brutally." The Emergence of the Political Prisoner, 1865–1910|journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History|volume=54|issue=4|pages=863–889|doi=10.1017/S0010417512000448|s2cid=146560115|issn=0010-4175|doi-access=free}}</ref> Another famous historical figure described as a political prisoner is the 15th century French heroine, [[Joan of Arc]], whose final charge of [[heresy]] was seen as a legal justification for her real crime of "inconveniencing the elites".<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{cite book|last1=Pernoud|first1=Regine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rwNkZ6j0MawC&q=%22Joan+of+Arc%22+%22political+prisoner%22&pg=PR11|title=Joan of Arc: Her Story|last2=Clin|first2=Narue-Veronique|date=15 October 1999|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-0-312-22730-2|pages=xii, xix, 106, 150}}</ref>

[[Padraic Kenney]] noted that "the emergence of modern political prisoners coincides with a fifty-year period (1860s–1910s) during which [modern] political movements matured around the world", also defining such movements as having "clearly articulated political and social programs" which forced the governments to develop a specific response to such movements (a response which often involved incarceration rather than dialogue, particularly under the less liberal regimes).<ref name=":3" />

In some places, political prisoners had their own customs, traditions, and semi-formal organizations and privileges; historically, this has been more common up to around the [[interwar period]], as the many political prisoners came from higher social classes (in particular, [[nobility]]), and authorities often treated them better than common criminals. This changed with the emergence of the [[Totalitarianism|totalitarian]] regimes that were intent on annihilating the opposition.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal|last=Machcewicz|first=Anna|date=2018|title=Political Prisoners in Poland, 1944–56: The Sources and Strategies of Resistance in the Authoritarian State's Prison System|journal=Acta Poloniae Historica|volume=118|pages=93–126|doi=10.12775/APH.2018.118.04|s2cid=159274432|issn=0001-6829|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=":3" />
[[File:Topography of Terror - Gestapo political prisoners.jpg|thumb|Images of political prisoners from the [[Gestapo]] archives, Germany]]
In Poland, the concept and even traditions of political prisoners emerged around the second half of the 19th century in the [[Russian partition]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" />

While the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] of 1948 is not legally binding, it is generally recognized as "a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations". Of particular relevance to political prisoners are its Articles 5, 6, 9 and 18. The UDHR and the later [[Helsinki Accords]] of 1975 have been used by a number of nongovernmental organizations as the basis for arguing that some governments are in fact holding political prisoners.<ref name=":2" />

[[Political prisoners in the United States|In the United States]], the term political prisoner has been used during the mid-20th century [[civil rights struggle]] and has been occasionally applied to individuals like [[Rosa Parks]] or [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], and later used for individuals imprisoned for [[Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War|objecting to US involvement in the Vietnam War]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

Political prisoners [[List of memoirs of political prisoners|sometimes write memoirs]] of their experiences and resulting insights. Some of these memoirs have become important political texts. For example, King's "[[Letter from Birmingham Jail|Letter From a Birmingham City Jail]]" has been described as "one of the most important historical documents penned by a modern political prisoner".<ref name=":2" />