GENEVA: Well over a third of countries in the world continue to put people behind bars simply for speaking out against their government, Amnesty International said. In a statement to the United Nations Sub commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, the worldwide human rights organization said that such prisoners of conscience are held in more than 70 countries by governments that “cannot tolerate their opposition.” “We know of more than 1,500 prisoners of conscience still detained,” an Amnesty International spokesperson said, “and we believe thousands more are in prison, often on trumped up charges, when all they have actually done is voice unpopular views.”
The organisation said that many of these arrests take place in charged political situations while more still are part of routine government policy or practice.
Arrests and torture have continued throughout the year in Sudan, in the aftermath of the coup last June, and many hundreds of the thousands arrested in China during the pro-democracy protests and in Tibet after mass demonstrations for independence are still being held.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 31, 1990
