POLITICAL PRISONERS

Rights at stake• UDHR, Article 7: All are equal before the law

and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law.

• UDHR, Article 9: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile

• UDHR, Article 10: Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal.

Rights at stake

• `Political imprisonment` is not a human rights violation per se.

• It is associated with human rights violations such as arbitrary arrest and detention, unfair trials, torture, disappearances

The ‘political’

• Political policing: Using the police to suppress ‘political’ threats in society

• Political: politicization of identity

CSOs• Amnesty International: ‘individuals and

prisoners at risk’– Detention and imprisonment– Enforced Disappearances– Prisoners of Conscience

• Human Rights Watch: – political prisoner: if they are imprisoned for

exercising their right to free speech or religion, or for their peaceful political activities.