# Persecuted for Disobeying Bad Laws

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persecuted-for-disobeying-bad-laws/630125>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 2, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persecuted-for-disobeying-bad-laws/630125 "2012-08-02T00:21:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persecuted-for-disobeying-bad-laws/630125/1 "2012-08-02T00:21:27Z")

</div>

Who are some people who have been persecuted/imprisoned/put to death/whatever (or threatened with same) for disobeying immoral laws?

Some names that come to mind: Martin Luther King, Jr.; Rosa Parks; Galileo; Copernicus; Susan B. Anthony; Ghandi; and scores of others who I can’t readily think of.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persecuted-for-disobeying-bad-laws/630125/2 "2012-08-02T07:05:37Z")

</div>

Jesus Christ

[Abdulelah Haider Shaye](Abdulelah Haider Shaye)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

[Captain Ian Fishback](http://articles.latimes.com/2005/sep/25/world/fg-abuse25)

Socrates

[Saint Ignatius of Antioch](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07644a.htm)

[Bradley Manning](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/12/bradley-manning-treated-terrorists)

> [@HeyHomie](#):
>
> Copernicus

Copernicus was never persecuted as far as I know.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persecuted-for-disobeying-bad-laws/630125/3 "2012-08-02T10:41:00Z")

</div>

Go to traffic court

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persecuted-for-disobeying-bad-laws/630125/4 "2012-08-02T11:49:56Z")

</div>

> [@ITR\_champion](#):
>
> [Bradley Manning](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/12/bradley-manning-treated-terrorists)

I didn’t know that “Don’t leak confidential documents to the press” was an “immoral law”, myself.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persecuted-for-disobeying-bad-laws/630125/5 "2012-08-02T13:09:39Z")

</div>

> [@HeyHomie](#):
>
> Some names that come to mind: Martin Luther King, Jr.; Rosa Parks; Galileo; Copernicus; Susan B. Anthony; Ghandi; and scores of others who I can’t readily think of.

Nitpick: it’s spelled Gandhi. And given that you mentioned him, you’d also have to add Henry David Thoreau (as his essay Civil Disobedience influenced Gandhi).