Shih Ming-teh
Taiwanese statesman human rights defender
Died when: 83 years 0 days (996 months)Star Sign: Capricorn
Shih Ming-teh (Chinese: ???; born 15 January 1941) commonly known as Nori Shih, was a statesman and human rights defender in Taiwan and was once a political prisoner for 25-and-a-half years.
Arrested at the age of 21 in 1962 and charged with creating the "Taiwan Independence League" (a study group) with the intention of overthrowing the Kuomintang government, Shih was sentenced to life imprisonment.
The sentence was commuted to 15 years in 1975, and Shih was released on 16 June 1977.He promptly joined the Tangwai (literally meaning "outside the party", because the Kuomintang was the only legally existing political party in Taiwan at that time), became a reporter for the Liberty Times and married the American researcher Linda Gail Arrigo.
After he played a part in organizing the 10 December 1979 pro-democracy rally subsequently known as the Kaohsiung Incident (also known as the Formosa Incident or Meilitao Incident), an arrest warrant was issued charging Shih with treason, and following 26 days on the run he was again arrested and sentenced to life in prison.
In 1984, while he was incarcerated, Polish politician and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa nominated him for Peace Prize.In July 1987, Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law and offered an amnesty to Shih, but he refused to accept.
On 20 May 1990 he was finally released.In total, he spent 25 years in prison, 13 years in solitary confinement and over 4 years on hunger strike.
In 1993, he was elected leader of the legalized opposition Democratic Progressive Party.He was also elected legislator in three occasions.
Shih's proposal of a political "Grand Reconciliation" in Taiwan, he resigned from the Democratic Progressive Party on 14 November 2000.In 2006, Shih carried out a massive protest, known as Million Voices Against Corruption, President Chen Must Go, in an effort to force the embattled president Chen Shui-bian to resign.
He led an around the clock sit-in in front of the Presidential Building and Taipei Railway Station in Taipei City, pledging to remain there until such time as President Chen resigned, or he reached the end of his term in March 2008.
On 5 December 2006, he left Taipei Railway Station pledging to continue the protest alone in "self-reclusion" at an apartment nearby.This protest ended April 2007.
Shih was one of the most prominent personalities of the Tangwai movement and greatly contributed to Taiwan's democratization.He has been referred to by some as "Taiwan's Mandela".