Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
prisoner of conscience
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Amnesty International considers Moncef Triki to be a prisoner of conscience.
▪ Congress, have portrayed her as a prisoner of conscience persecuted for her leftist views.
▪ He chose to do nothing, and for a time remained in a distant castle as a virtual prisoner of conscience.
▪ In Czechoslovakia former prisoner of conscience Vaclav Havel became President of his country.
▪ Recently he was adopted by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience.
▪ Tom Martell sits in the federal penitentiary at Las Vegas, a prisoner of conscience.
Wiktionary
prisoner of conscience
n. anyone imprisoned because of their race, religion, or political views
Wikipedia
Prisoner of conscience
Prisoner of conscience (POC) is a term coined by Peter Benenson in a 28 May 1961 article (" The Forgotten Prisoners") for the London Observer newspaper. Most often associated with the human rights organisation Amnesty International, the term can refer to anyone imprisoned because of their race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views. It also refers to those who have been imprisoned and/or persecuted for the non-violent expression of their conscientiously held beliefs.