Worldview

Political Prisoners

Who is a political prisoner? Is it anyone whose freedom or movement is restricted based on his or her beliefs and actions? Is it also persons held because of who they are? From August 12 through August 15, 2002, Worldview explored these and other questions. Host Jerome McDonnell talked to former political prisoners from Burma to Northern Ireland. And, Worldview explored cases of political imprisonment that continue to this day.

Along with new interviews, Worldview revisited past conversations about political prisoners and then updated those situations. Audio of the programs in this series is provided on this webpage along with additional audio and outside links.

	Listen to Programs in This Series Egypt: Human Rights Worker Imprisoned Update on the case of Dr. Saadeddin Ibrahim Dr. Barbara Lethem Ibrahim — Wife of Saadeddin Ibrahim and the regional director for West Asia and North Africa at the Population Council Revisiting Northern Ireland's Hunger Strikes (First aired on August 3, 2001) Laurence McKeown — Participant in the 1981 hunger strike at Northern Ireland's Long Kesh prison and the author of Out of Time: Irish Republican Prisoners Long Kesh 1972-2000 See outside links on this topic Hunger Strike in Turkey: Visiting the Hunger Strikers (First aired on October 29, 2001) Scott Anderson — Author of a New York Times article about Turkey's hunger strike and author several books including The Man Who Tried to Save the World and Triage See outside links on this topic Update on the Hunger Strike in Turkey Jonathan Sugden — Human Rights Watch researcher for Turkey Political Prisoners in China (First aired on July 24, 1998) Wei Jingsheng — Chinese pro-democracy activist who was active during Democracy Wall movement, imprisoned from 1979 to 1993 and then from 1994 to 1997, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, author of The Courage to Stand Alone: Letters from Prison and Other Writings   2001 map of Burma Map Courtesy of The General Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin Political Prisoner in Burma James Mawdsley — British human rights activist who was sentenced to 17 years in jail last year for distributing pro-democracy leaflets in Burma and spent 415 days in solitary confinement before international intervention resulted in his release, author of The Iron Road: A stand for truth and democracy in Burma, international representative for Christian Solidarity Worldwide See outside links on this topic Korean "Comfort Women" Interview (First aired on October 10, 2000) Jerome McDonnell with guests Soon-Duk Kim — Kim was one of fifteen plaintiffs in the first ever class action lawsuit filed in the U.S. against Japan for war crimes in WWII and was a "comfort woman" for the Japanese army. She was taken as a slave in 1937 and forced to accompany Japanese soldiers as they advanced through Northern China. Hyejin — A Buddhist monk and co-founder and executive director of the House of Sharing in Seoul Remarks were translated by Inhe Choi from KANWIN (Korean American Women in Need) Writing Letters for Political Prisoners Jonathan Power — Journalist and author of Like Water on Stone: The Story of Amnesty International
	Additional Audio This program provides another perspective on political prisoners.
	School of the Americas Protester (see outside links on this topic) First aired on June 12, 2001 David Corcoran — Chaplain at Loyola University Medical Center who was arrested at a protest against the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly named the School of the Americas) at Fort Benning, GA
	Outside Links
	General political prisoner links
	Amnesty International: Prisoners of Conscience
	Human Rights Watch: Prisons
	Remembering the Northern Ireland hunger strikes
	Hunger Strike Commemoration Committee
	Bobby Sands Trust
	On-going hunger strike in Turkey
	Northern Ireland Solidarity with Turkey
	Human Rights Watch: Isolation in Turkish Prisons Continues
	School of the Americas protests
	School of the Americas Watch
	Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly known as "School of the Americas")
	"We are all one body" David Corcoran's testimony to a U.S. District Court, the testimony explains why he crossed the line at Fort Benning to push for closure of the School of the Americas
	Korean "Comfort Women"
	The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan
	The Comfort Women Project
	Political prisoners in Burma
	Free Burma Coalition
	The Burma Project
	Aung San Suu Kyi Pages
	WBEZ is not responsible for content of outside sites.