GC: n
S: AI – http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/prisoners-and-people-at-risk/prisoners-of-conscience (last access: 11 November 2014); UN – http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=42937#.VGHK7Gc7F_c (last access: 11 November 2014).
N: 1. prisoner (n): Earlier a jailer in the middle of the 13th century, but this did not survive Middle English. From Old French: prisonier. From Latin: prisoun.
of (prep.): Old English of, unstressed form of æf (prep., adv.) “away, away from,” from Proto-Germanic af (cognates: Old Norse af, Old Frisian af, of “of,” Dutch af “off, down,” German ab “off, from, down”), from PIE apo- “off, away”
conscience (n): from Old French: conscience. From Latin: conscientia, “knowledge within oneself, sense of right, a moral sense,”.
2. prisoner: phrase prisoner of war dates from 1670s. Prisoner’s dilemma attested from 1957.
conscience: probably a loan-translation of Greek syneidesis, literally means: with-knowledge.
3. People who have been jailed because of their political, religious or other conscientiously-held beliefs, ethnic origin, sex, color, language, national or social origin, economic status, birth, sexual orientation or other status, provided that they have neither used nor advocated violence.
4. Detentions and imprisonment of prisoners of conscience were commonplace under former President Suharto’s regime (1965-1998), but following his forced resignation in 1998 all prisoners of conscience were released in a series of presidential amnesties. However, repressive legislation which limits freedom of expression was not repealed and has once again come back into use against political activists, labour rights activists, human rights activists and others.
5. Amnesty International has championed the rights of prisoners of conscience since the organization’s founding in 1961, and thousands of prisoners of conscience have been released from jail following action on their behalf by Amnesty International.
S: 1 & 2. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=PRISONER&searchmode=none; http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=conscience&searchmode=none (last access: 11 November 2014). 3. AI – http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/prisoners-and-people-at-risk/prisoners-of-conscience (last access: 11 November 2014). 4. AIW- AI Web Archive. http://web.archive.org/web/20040317001606/http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA210092003?open&of=ENG-316 (last access: 11 November 2014). 5. AI – http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/prisoners-and-people-at-risk/prisoners-of-conscience (last access: 11 November 2014).
SYN:
S:
CR: consciousness, prisoner of war.
