[Music]
criticizing government’s landed them
behind bars
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’re
counting down our picks for the top 10
most inspiring political prisoners it is
because of recent changes in my country
that I’m with you today and these
changes have come about because of you
and other lovers of freedom and justice
number 10 Ho Chi Minh this communist
leader was a force in Viet Nam’s
nationalist campaign battling various
powers to lead his population to
independence while his visit to China
was meant to mobilize support against
French colonists it cost him 18 months
in jail during which he wrote notebook
from prison after returning to Vietnam
in 1943 po helped liberate the north
from the French and established the
communist led Democratic Republic of
Vietnam number 9 Akbar gang G labeled
Iran’s preeminent political dissident
Ganges disillusionment drove him from
the Revolutionary Guard to investigative
journalism where he famously reported on
Iran’s chain murders his allegations
that senior government officials had
covertly assassinated dissidents and his
participation in a supposedly anti-iran
conference got him arrested in 2000 and
he spent the next six years in prison
hunger-striking allegedly being tortured
and writing a proposal for a democratic
Iran but of course now we know the
revolutions don’t make democracies
number 8 Mordechai Vanunu after working
as a nuclear technician Vanunu’s
left-wing ideals compelled him to expose
Israel’s nuclear program before the
story went public in 1986 he was tricked
by a friendly female Mossad agent and
arrested for treason and espionage his
secret trial got him jailed for 18 years
11 of which were spent in solitary
confinement since his 2004 release he’s
lived under restrictions and his
been arrested numerous times number
seven václav havel once his acclaimed
writing was banned in his native
czechoslovakia during 1968 suppressive
Prague Spring this anti-communist
dissidents politicization increased he
helped create the charter 77 manifesto
and was behind bars often with his
longest stint documented in letters to
Olga after his release in 1983 Havel led
his country through the Velvet
Revolution and was elected president of
Czechoslovakia proving the potential of
art and influencing political dialogue
number six Andrei Sakharov called the
father of the Soviet h-bomb this nuclear
physicist created the USSR s third idea
eventually he publicly expressed unease
about the ethical repercussions of his
work and became a civil rights leader
which won him 1975 s Nobel Peace Prize
ultimately his protest against the
Soviets Afghanistan invasion got him
arrested in 1980 and he was forced into
exile for almost seven years though he
never stopped fighting Soviet repression
number five Martin Luther King jr. this
pastor and activist was an iconic figure
in the American fight for civil rights
and that reputation got him sent to jail
almost 30 times before his assassination
while he was incarcerated for leading
large demonstrations in Alabama King
re-established his belief in peaceful
protest and non-violence in 1963 s
famous letter from Birmingham jail the
next year he was awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize I’m mindful that only yesterday in
Philadelphia Mississippi young people
seeking to secure the right to vote
brutalized and murdered number four
Liu Xiaobo the Chinese fight for human
rights is another furious battle and Liu
one of its strongest dissidents
demanding sweeping change and an end to
communist rule he helped build the
Charter o8 manifesto that project led to
his 11 year jail sentence during which
he was awarded 2010’s a Nobel Peace
Prize because Liu couldn’t attend his
statement of
imprisonment entitled I have no enemies
was read at the ceremony
number three honest and Suchi after
founding Burma’s National League for
Democracy in 1988 su Chi was told to
leave the country or face house arrest
she spent the next 21 years in and out
of detention the ruling military Hunta
refused to recognize the results of the
1990 election where her party won a
majority but today this Nobel Peace
Prize laureate is the official leader of
the Opposition following her 2010
release if I’m asked why I’m fighting
for democracy in Burma it is because I
believe that democratic institutions and
practices are necessary for the
guarantee of human rights number two
Mohandas Gandhi Gandhi worked for
equality and against discrimination
whether he was battling the substandard
treatment of Indians in South Africa or
fighting for Indian independence from
Britain Gandhi was using and developing
groundbreaking nonviolent methods of
civil disobedience or satyagraha while
he was jailed many times for his
Crusades against British imperialism he
did succeed in leading India to
independence before being killed by
fanatic in 1948 number 1 Nelson Mandela
his life’s work was to end racial
segregation but it got him arrested
charged with sabotage treason and
violent conspiracy during the infamous
Rivonia trial and sentenced to life in
prison during his 27 year incarceration
Mandela became an international symbol
of anti-apartheid resistance as he
refused freedom in favor of his beliefs
[Music]
mogera donkeys hallelujah
that is our leader he was finally
released at age 72 in 1990 after which
he became the country’s first black
president there have been so many
inspiring people who’ve been jailed for
standing up for their beliefs who do you
think of the most inspiring political
prisoners for more informative top 10s
be sure to subscribe to watchmojo.com
[Music]
criticizing government’s landed them
behind bars
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’re
counting down our picks for the top 10
most inspiring political prisoners it is
because of recent changes in my country
that I’m with you today and these
changes have come about because of you
and other lovers of freedom and justice
number 10 Ho Chi Minh this communist
leader was a force in Viet Nam’s
nationalist campaign battling various
powers to lead his population to
independence while his visit to China
was meant to mobilize support against
French colonists it cost him 18 months
in jail during which he wrote notebook
from prison after returning to Vietnam
in 1943 po helped liberate the north
from the French and established the
communist led Democratic Republic of
Vietnam number 9 Akbar gang G labeled
Iran’s preeminent political dissident
Ganges disillusionment drove him from
the Revolutionary Guard to investigative
journalism where he famously reported on
Iran’s chain murders his allegations
that senior government officials had
covertly assassinated dissidents and his
participation in a supposedly anti-iran
conference got him arrested in 2000 and
he spent the next six years in prison
hunger-striking allegedly being tortured
and writing a proposal for a democratic
Iran but of course now we know the
revolutions don’t make democracies
number 8 Mordechai Vanunu after working
as a nuclear technician Vanunu’s
left-wing ideals compelled him to expose
Israel’s nuclear program before the
story went public in 1986 he was tricked
by a friendly female Mossad agent and
arrested for treason and espionage his
secret trial got him jailed for 18 years
11 of which were spent in solitary
confinement since his 2004 release he’s
lived under restrictions and his
been arrested numerous times number
seven václav havel once his acclaimed
writing was banned in his native
czechoslovakia during 1968 suppressive
Prague Spring this anti-communist
dissidents politicization increased he
helped create the charter 77 manifesto
and was behind bars often with his
longest stint documented in letters to
Olga after his release in 1983 Havel led
his country through the Velvet
Revolution and was elected president of
Czechoslovakia proving the potential of
art and influencing political dialogue
number six Andrei Sakharov called the
father of the Soviet h-bomb this nuclear
physicist created the USSR s third idea
eventually he publicly expressed unease
about the ethical repercussions of his
work and became a civil rights leader
which won him 1975 s Nobel Peace Prize
ultimately his protest against the
Soviets Afghanistan invasion got him
arrested in 1980 and he was forced into
exile for almost seven years though he
never stopped fighting Soviet repression
number five Martin Luther King jr. this
pastor and activist was an iconic figure
in the American fight for civil rights
and that reputation got him sent to jail
almost 30 times before his assassination
while he was incarcerated for leading
large demonstrations in Alabama King
re-established his belief in peaceful
protest and non-violence in 1963 s
famous letter from Birmingham jail the
next year he was awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize I’m mindful that only yesterday in
Philadelphia Mississippi young people
seeking to secure the right to vote
brutalized and murdered number four
Liu Xiaobo the Chinese fight for human
rights is another furious battle and Liu
one of its strongest dissidents
demanding sweeping change and an end to
communist rule he helped build the
Charter o8 manifesto that project led to
his 11 year jail sentence during which
he was awarded 2010’s a Nobel Peace
Prize because Liu couldn’t attend his
statement of
imprisonment entitled I have no enemies
was read at the ceremony
number three honest and Suchi after
founding Burma’s National League for
Democracy in 1988 su Chi was told to
leave the country or face house arrest
she spent the next 21 years in and out
of detention the ruling military Hunta
refused to recognize the results of the
1990 election where her party won a
majority but today this Nobel Peace
Prize laureate is the official leader of
the Opposition following her 2010
release if I’m asked why I’m fighting
for democracy in Burma it is because I
believe that democratic institutions and
practices are necessary for the
guarantee of human rights number two
Mohandas Gandhi Gandhi worked for
equality and against discrimination
whether he was battling the substandard
treatment of Indians in South Africa or
fighting for Indian independence from
Britain Gandhi was using and developing
groundbreaking nonviolent methods of
civil disobedience or satyagraha while
he was jailed many times for his
Crusades against British imperialism he
did succeed in leading India to
independence before being killed by
fanatic in 1948 number 1 Nelson Mandela
his life’s work was to end racial
segregation but it got him arrested
charged with sabotage treason and
violent conspiracy during the infamous
Rivonia trial and sentenced to life in
prison during his 27 year incarceration
Mandela became an international symbol
of anti-apartheid resistance as he
refused freedom in favor of his beliefs
[Music]
mogera donkeys hallelujah
that is our leader he was finally
released at age 72 in 1990 after which
he became the country’s first black
president there have been so many
inspiring people who’ve been jailed for
standing up for their beliefs who do you
think of the most inspiring political
prisoners for more informative top 10s
be sure to subscribe to watchmojo.com
[Music]
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