people convicted or suspected of certain crimes classified as terrorism by the government of their country (or some foreign countries) reject that classification. they consider that their fight is a legitimate one using legitimate means, and thus their crimes should be more appropriately called political crimes and justify special treatment in the penal system (as if they were soldiers in a war and therefore covered by the geneva convention). states tend to consider the political nature of the crimes an aggravating factor in the sentencing process and make no distinction between the terrorists and "ordinary" offenders, e.g. the convicted murderers of action directe consider themselves political prisoners.