Free all political detainees worldwide!
Thousands of militants who have resisted the oppressive and exploitative system are languishing in reactionary prisons around the world. Like the 216 political prisoners in the Philippines (the number continues to grow), Abdulla Ocalan, Abimael Guzman, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Tian Chua and Memik Horuz are incarcerated in prisons in Turkey, Peru, the US and Malaysia. Theirs are the most prominent among the many widespread cases of political detention worldwide. The International League for People�s Struggles (ILPS) is demanding their release. There are growing calls around the world for their release and the liberation of all political detainees.
Abdulla Ocalan. Ocalan has been imprisoned since 1999 in an isolation cell in Turkey. When arrested, he chaired the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has been fighting for the right to self-determination of 40 million Kurds in southeastern Turkey. The Turkish State Security Court sentenced Ocalan to death for murder and treason in relation to his leadership over the PKK and the revolutionary armed struggle.
Abimael Guzman. When he was captured in 1992, Abimael Guzman chaired Sendero Luminoso (Communist Party of Peru), which leads the armed struggle in Peru. He is held alone in an underground cell and is now ill due to the brutal conditions in his prison. Along with torturing Guzman, the reactionary regime in Peru continues to make political detainees and prisoners of war suffer, isolating and incarcerating them in dingy concentration camps scattered all over the country. Hundreds of detainees have been routinely massacred in prison, especially under the Fujimori dictatorial regime.
Mumia Abu-Jamal. Abu-Jamal was sentenced to death in 1982 for the trumped-up charge of killing a policeman. He has been imprisoned in Philadelphia since then. Abu-Jamal is a former member of the Black Panther Party, a revolutionary organization of Afro-Americans in the US. The organization reached its peak from the 1970s to the 1980s.
Since his sentencing, Abu-Jamal has been held in an isolation cell. He is barred from speaking to anyone and issuing statements. Strong protests within and outside the US have twice led to the suspension of his execution.
Tian Chua. Malaysian police arrested Tian on April 10, 2001 on the basis of the Internal Security Act, a law that allows preventive arrests and indefinite detention without charges or trial. Despite a lack of evidence, the Police Inspector-General declared that Tian was involved in a plot to overthrow the government of Mahathir Muhammad.
Before he was imprisoned, Tian was deputy chair of the National Justice Party and an ardent defender of human rights not only in Malaysia but in other countries. He was held in isolation for two months before his transfer to the notorious Kamunting Detention Center.
Memik Horuz. Horuz was arrested in June 2001 because he published an interview with the Kurdish Workers� Party in his newspaper. He was a progressive journalist in Turkey who militantly defended the people�s democratic rights. He is also an officer of the ILPS.
He is currently imprisoned in an isolation cell. The Turkish Medical Association and the Turkish Bar Association have opposed this for its serious psychological effects on prisoners in the country.
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