CPJ concerned about health of two journalists on hunger strike

CUBA: CPJ concerned about health of two journalists on hunger strike

New York, March 16, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists
expressed concern today about the health of two independent journalists
on hunger strike in Cuba, one of them in prison.

Guillermo Fariñas, director of the independent news agency Cubacán
Press, has refused food for 45 days to protest government restrictions
on journalists’ access to the Internet, and is in intensive care. Jailed
journalist Juan Carlos Herrera of the independent news agency Agencia de
Prensa Libre Oriental has gone without food for 13 days.

Fariñas has been hospitalized in the northern city of Santa Clara
since February 7, his mother Alicia Hernández told CPJ. She said he had
repeatedly lost consciousness, suffered severe headaches, and had no
feeling in his limbs. He began his fast January 31.

Herrera went on hunger strike March 4 to protest living conditions
and medical treatment in prison, his wife Iliana Danjer Hardey told CPJ.
She said he had been drinking water since Tuesday because of a
preexisting kidney condition. Herrera, arrested in a widespread
crackdown on the independent press in March 2003, is serving a 20-year
sentence.

“We are extremely worried about the health of both journalists,”
said CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper. “We call on the Cuban government
to release all 24 journalists currently jailed for their work.”

http://www.cpj.org/news/2006/americas/cuba16mar06na.html