Shih Ming-teh

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Shih Ming-teh (Chinese: 施明德; pinyin: Shī Míngdé, a.k.a. Nori; born January 15, 1941 in Kaohsiung) is a former political prisoner, a politician in the Republic of China on Taiwan

First arrested at the age of 21 in 1962 and charged with creating the "Taiwan Independence League" (a high school discussion club) 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 transferred from Taiyuan prison to a rehabilitation centre.

Shih was finally released in on June 16, 1977. He promptly joined the Tangwai opposition movement, became a reporter for the Liberty Times and married the American researcher Linda Arrigo. After playing a part in the organizing the December 10, 1979 pro-democracy rally subsequently known as the Kaohsiung 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.

But Shih's fame had grown, and this time his arrest had attracted worldwide attention. Shih undertook a series of hunger strikes and demanded human rights and the freedom of all political prisoners. In July 1987, Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law and offered an amnesty to Shih, but he refused to accept it until he finally agreed that his conditions had been met, on May 20, 1990. In total, he spent 25 years in prison, 13 years in solitary confinement and over 4 years on hunger strike.

In 1992 Shih Ming-teh was elected to the Legislative Yuan to represent Tainan County, a post he held until 1998. Then Shih switched his legislator campaign district to Taipei City and again won the 3-year seat with 53,199 votes on Dec. 5, 1998 but fail to hold it as an independent with 24,925 votes on Dec. 1, 2001. Shih was also the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party from 1993 to 1996. Shih had a falling out with his party, which he felt was leaning too much toward Taiwan independence and renounced his DPP membership on Nov. 14, 2000. Since 2002, Shih has become increasing critical of the DPP and has grown closer to the pan-blue coalition although not actually joining it.

Shih ran in the December 2004 legislative election as an independent in the Taipei City North constituency, but like fellow candidate and DPP Chairman turned Pan-Blue supporter Hsu Hsin-liang, he narrowly lost the race by receiving 26,974 votes in the highly contested district.

Shih is currently organizing a political protest seeking to overthrow the embattled ROC president Chen Shui-bian in an effort to force Chen to resign. He is preparing an around the clock 23 day sit in in front of the Presidential Building in Taipei City in order to force Chen Shui-bian to step down.

Recently, he has called for the resignation of Taipei City mayou Ma Ying-jeou after he was accused of using special mayoral funds meant for the city towards his own use.