Pai Ya-tsan (; born 8 January 1945) is a Taiwanese political activist. During his imprisonment,

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

designated Pai a prisoner of conscience. Raised in

Changhua County Changhua County (Mandarin Pinyin: ''Zhānghuà Xiàn''; Wade-Giles: ''Chang¹-hua⁴ Hsien⁴''; Hokkien POJ: ''Chiang-hòa-koān'' or ''Chiong-hòa-koān'') is the smallest county on the main island of Taiwan by area, and the fourth smallest ...

, Pai studied law at

National Chengchi University National Chengchi University () is a public research university in Taipei. The university is also considered as the earliest public service training facility of the Republic of China. First established in Nanjing in 1927, the university was subs ...

. His political involvement began in 1969, campaigning for

Huang Hsin-chieh Huang Hsin-chieh (; 20 August 1928 – 30 November 1999) was a Taiwanese politician, Taipei city council member, National Assembly representative, Legislative Yuan legislator, publisher of ''Formosa Magazine'' and Taiwan Political Theory magazin ...

, who won election to the

Legislative Yuan The Legislative Yuan is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for 4-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a parallel v ...

. Suspected of sedition, Pai was jailed for four months in 1971, then released. In 1973, he supported a number of

tangwai The ''Tangwai'' movement, or simply ''Tangwai'' (), was a loosely knit political movement in Taiwan in the mid-1970s and early 1980s. Although the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) had allowed contested elections for a small number of seats in the Legi ...

candidates for

Taipei City Council Taipei City Council () is the city council of Taipei, Taiwan. One of the largest local councils in Taiwan, the city council is currently composed of 63 councillors, all elected lately in the 2018 Taiwanese local elections. Composition ...

. Pai chose to contest the legislative election of 1975, but was arrested in October for distributing campaign fliers which contained 29 questions addressed to

Chiang Ching-kuo Chiang Ching-kuo (27 April 1910 – 13 January 1988) was a politician of the Republic of China after its retreat to Taiwan. The eldest and only biological son of former president Chiang Kai-shek, he held numerous posts in the government ...

, as well as political policies suggested by Pai. The next month, he went to trial and was sentenced to life imprisonment by a military court. While imprisoned he went on hunger strikes to protest foreign policies and political repression. In February 1986, legislators

Chiang Peng-chien Chiang Peng-chien (; 25 April 1940 – 15 December 2000) was a Taiwanese politician who was a co-founder and the first chairperson of the Democratic Progressive Party. Chiang was elected a member of the Legislative Yuan in 1983 and became a m ...

and Fang Su-min petitioned for Pai's release. Instead, Pai's prison sentence was commuted to fifteen years upon the lifting of

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...

in July 1987. Throughout the year, Pai's health continued to decline, and he was released in April 1988. In November 2018, Pai contested the Changhua County magistracy as an independent candidate.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pai, Ya-tsan 1945 births Living people National Chengchi University alumni People from Changhua County Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Taiwan Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Taiwan Taiwanese prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Hunger strikers