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Prisoner of conscience
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Prisoner of conscience (POC) is a term coined by the human rights pressure group Amnesty International in the early 1960s. It can refer to anyone imprisoned because of their race, religion, color, language, sexual orientation, or belief, so long as they have not used or advocated violence. It also refers to those who are, have been, are likely to be imprisoned and/or persecuted for the non-violent expression of their conscientiously-held beliefs.
On 28th 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 aim of this year-long campaign, founded by the English lawyer and recent Catholic convert Peter Benenson and a small group of writers, academics and lawyers, particularly the Quaker peace activist Eric Baker, 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 organisation and was renamed 'Amnesty International'.
Under British law, Amnesty International was classed as a political organisation and therefore excluded from tax-free charity status.[1] 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, independent charity. [2]
Amnesty International has, since its founding, pressured governments to release those persons it considers to be prisoners of conscience [3][4]. 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, whether Amnesty International has specifically adopted an individual's case or not. [5]
- ^ (2006) Keepers of the Flame: The Understanding Amnesty International. Cornell University Press, 70.
- Tom Buchanan, 'The Truth Will Set You Free': The Making of Amnesty International', Journal of Contemporary History, 37 (2002) pp.575-597.
