Ending dark era, Cuba frees last jailed journalist

[naaman fletcher]

New York, April 8, 2011--The Cuban government on Thursday released the last journalist remaining in its prisons, ending a dark, eight-year-long era in which the island nation was one of the world's worst jailers of the press, at one time imprisoning nearly 30 independent reporters and writers. The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed relief today that Albert Santiago Du Bouchet Hernández has been freed, a milestone in an intensive, international advocacy effort led by the Catholic Church, the Spanish government, and international press and human rights groups.

Du Bouchet Hernández arrived in Madrid this morning after being released from jail the previous day, press reports said. Du Bouchet Hernández was exiled to Spain as part of a group of 37 newly freed political prisoners and more 200 of their family members, according to The Associated Press. The detainees and their families were flown from Havana on a flight chartered by the Spanish government, press reports said.

"We are greatly relieved that the last independent Cuban journalist still in prison has been released. A years-long nightmare of suffering and humiliation for a large group of journalists and their families has finally come to an end," said Carlos Lauría, CPJ's senior program coordinator for the Americas. "However, independent journalists in Cuba continue to face harassment and intimidation for their work. We call on the Cuban government now to dismantle the obsolete legal framework that punishes independent reporting with jail, and to grant freedom of expression to all Cubans."

Du Bouchet Hernández, former director of the Havana-based independent news agency Havana Press, was serving a three-year sentence on charges of "disrespect" and distributing enemy propaganda. At the time of his release, he was being held at the Melena II Prison, in Havana province. He faced appalling prison conditions, including poor food and overflowing wastewater, colleague Roberto De Jesús Guerra said.

http://www.cpj.org/2011/04/ending-dark-era-cuba-frees-last-jailed-journalist.php


I was reluctant to post this since I feared CPJ was a fascist organization, but one of our better informed posters here clearly believes that they are reliable (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=405&topic_id=50651&mesg_id=50651)

[joshcryer]

1. Thanks.