Freedom in Singapore

Notable Political Prisoners

Dr Nelson Mandela - First Black President of South Africa

The Greatest Glory Is Not in Never Falling, But in Rising Every Time We Fall

After joining the African National Congress (ANC) in 1944 and taking part in resistance against the largely white, ethnic-Afrikaner National Party's apartheid policies. He was arrested in 1962 and sentenced to five years' imprisonment with hard labor. In 1964 the sentence was furthered to life imprisonment. Until 1982, Mandela was kept at the infamous Robben Island prison, off Cape Town, before moving to Pollsmoor prison on the mainland.

Mandela’s former law partner, led an international movement to free Mandela and he was released in 1990 after 27 years in prison. Despite his incarceration, his reputation grew, Mandela threw himself into his life's work and became leader of the ANC. By 1994, South Africa's first multiracial elections, Mandela became the country's first black President.

Mohandas Gandhi - Leader of India's independence movement

Mohandas Gandhi's storied history of resistance included many stints in jail, starting with a two-month imprisonment in 1907 in South Africa, where he was working to end discrimination against Indians living there. He was arrested for urging them to ignore a law requiring Indians to be registered and fingerprinted. 

Fight for Indian Liberation from Britain

In 1914, Gandhi returned to India, where he supported the Home Rule movement, and became leader of the Indian National Congress, advocating a policy of non-violent non-co-operation to achieve independence. His goal was to help poor farmers and laborers protest oppressive taxation and discrimination. India achieved independence on Aug. 15, 1947, five months before Gandhi was assassinated. His moniker, Mahatma, meant "the great one."

Martin Luther King Jr- Civil Rights Activist, Minister

The most important civil rights campaigner in American history, Martin Luther King Jr. was born in January 1929, the son of a Baptist minister. He was a child protégé at school, skipping two grades and entering Morehouse College without ever formally graduating from high school. He completed his Ph.D. at Boston University before becoming a pastor. His studies pulled him toward the philosophy of nonviolent struggle and inspired him with the Gandhian dictum, "

King received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, among several other honors. King was assassinated in April 1968, and continues to be remembered as one of the most lauded African-American leaders in history, often referenced by his 1963 speech, "I Have a Dream."

Aung San Suu Kyi - Human Rights Activist and Leader of National League for Democracy (NLD) 

Burmese pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, now 65, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 while she was under house arrest. She was released in 1995 where she attended the NLD party congress, under the continual harassment of the military. Three years later, she founded a representative committee and declared it as the country's legitimate ruling body, and in response, in September 2000, the junta once again placed her under house arrest. She was released in May of 2002.

In December 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 400–0 to award Suu Kyi the Congressional Gold Medal, and in May 2008, U.S. President George Bush signed the vote into law, making Suu Kyi the first person in American history to receive the prize while imprisoned.

So Are there Political Prisoner in Singapore 


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