Yes, life as a political prisoner is a much more gruesome experience, but what makes the current moment so dramatic is the scale of it,There seems to be no end in sight, and the uncertainty of it is a big part.

In my situation, I didn’t know when I was going to be released. I had a very different political view from the government. I wasn’t involved in violent activity or anything like that. I was imprisoned for my thoughts, and there wasn’t a sentence. They never told me until the very last moment when I would be released, and that created a lot of pain and angst.