Cuba: Five years too many, new government must release jailed dissidents

PRESS RELEASE
March, 13 2008

Cuba: Five years too many, new government must release jailed dissidents

On the 5th anniversary of the largest crackdown against political
opponents in Cuba, Amnesty International today called on the new Cuban
authorities to immediately release the 58 dissidents still being held in
jails across the country.

"Five years is five years too many. The only crime committed by these 58
is the peaceful exercise of their fundamental freedoms. Amnesty
International considers them to be prisoners of conscience. They must be
released immediately and unconditionally," said Kerrie Howard, Deputy
Director for Amnesty International's Americas Programme.

In February 2008, Amnesty International welcomed the release of four
prisoners of conscience and Cuba's signing of the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights.

"The new Cuban President, Raul Castro, has to follow the recent positive
actions by tackling some of the most pressing human rights issues in the
country – including judicial review of all sentences passed after unfair
trials, the abolition of the death penalty and the introduction of
measures to guarantee freedom of expression and independence of the
judiciary," said Kerrie Howard.

Fifty-five of the 58 current prisoners of conscience in Cuba are the
remainder of a group of 75 people jailed in the context of a massive
crackdown against the dissident movement in March 2003. Most of them
were charged with crimes including "acts against the independence of the
state" because they received funds and/or materials from the United
States government in order to engage in activities the authorities
perceived as subversive and damaging to Cuba. These activities included
publishing articles or giving interviews to US-funded media,
communicating with international human rights organizations and having
contact with entities or individuals viewed to be hostile to Cuba. The
men were sentenced to between six and 28 years of prison after speedy
and dubious trials. Twenty have so far been conditionally released on
medical grounds.

Among the jailed political opponents is doctor and human rights defender
Marcelo Cano Rodriguez. He was arrested in the city of Las Tunas on 25
March 2003 as he was investigating the arrest of another doctor, Jorge
Luis García Paneque, detained during the crackdown on dissidents on the
island. Marcelo Cano Rodríguez was tried, convicted and sentenced to 18
years in prison. The activities the prosecution cited against him
included visiting prisoners and their families as part of his work with
the Comisión Cubana de Derechos Humanos (Cuban Human Rights Commission);
and maintaining ties to the international organization Medicos sin
Fronteras, Doctors without Borders. He is currently being held in Ariza
prison in the city of Cienfuegos, around 250 km south-east of his home
in the capital, Havana, where his family lives making family visits
difficult.

"By continuing to hold political opponents for exercising fundamental
freedoms, the Cuban authorities are failing to step up to their human
rights commitments," said Kerrie Howard.

A full list of the 58 political activists unfairly imprisoned in Cuba
will be available from 18 March on:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/cuba-list-prisoners-of-conscience

http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGPRE200803134196