Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela was arrested on 5 August 1962 near Howick, in South Africa. He was first tried for inciting strikes and leaving the country without permission, then stood trial at Rivonia on four counts of sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government by violence. On 20 April 1964 he closed his statement from the dock by saying he was prepared to die for the ideal of a democratic and free society. On 12 June 1964 he was found guilty on all four counts. The prosecution had asked for the death penalty. The judge imposed life imprisonment. He spent 27 years in prison: Robben Island until 1982, then Pollsmoor, then Victor Verster.

He walked out on 11 February 1990, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 with F. W. de Klerk, and served as President of South Africa from 10 May 1994 to 14 June 1999. The label outlasted the sentence by years. Mandela was still on a US terrorism watch list until 2008, when President George W. Bush signed a bill removing the African National Congress and its members from it.