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A political prisoner is anyone held in prison or otherwise detained, perhaps under house arrest, either because their ideas or image either challenge or pose a real or potential threat to the state. In many cases, a veneer of legality is used to disguise the fact that someone is a political prisoner. Trumped-up criminal charges may have been used to imprison the political prisoner, or he or she may have been denied bail unfairly, denied parole when it would reasonably have been given to another prisoner, or special powers may be invoked by the judiciary. In the Soviet Union, dubious psychiatric diagnoses were sometimes used to confine political prisoners. There have been allegations by some individuals that this is currently done in the US. Night and Fog prisoners were political prisoners in Germany during World War II. Some political prisoners have recorded their experiences in memoirs. See list of memoirs of political prisoners.

Who is and who is not regarded as a political prisoner depends very much on one's own political persuasion and on the prevailing political fashions. The list below contains some people who have been regarded as such by large numbers of people, but no definitive, objective list could ever be given.

Amnesty International campaigns for the release of "prisoners of conscience", which includes both political prisoners and those imprisoned for their religious beliefs. To reduce controversy, the organization's policy is to work only for prisoners who have not committed or advocated violence.

Examples of persons thought to be current political prisoners

• Lori Berenson - Peru
• David Gilbert - USA
• Leonard Peltier - USA
• Aung San Suu Kyi - Burma
• Mumia Abu Jamal - USA
• Delbert Africa - USA
• Phuntsok Nyidron - Tibet
• Gedhun Choekyi Nyima - Tibet

Further reading

• Christina Fink. 2001. Living Silence: Burma Under Miltiary Rule. Bangkok: White Lotus Press; London: Zed Press. (Note Chapter 8: Prison:'Live University' )

• Stephen M. Kohn. 1994. American Political Prisoners. Westport, CT: Praeger. ISBN 0275944158

• Barbara Olshansky. 2002. Secret Trials and Executions: Military Tribunals and the Threat to Democracy. New York: Seven Stories Press. ISBN 1583225374