Group Calls for Release of 22 Jailed Journalists in Cuba

Group Calls for Release of 22 Jailed Journalists in Cuba

VIENNA – The International Press Institute called Tuesday for the
"immediate release" of the 22 journalists jailed in Cuba and warned of
the risk of downplaying the importance of the fundamental rights of
freedom of expression and the press.

The Vienna-based IPI noted in a statement that the U.N. Human Rights
Council recently praised Cuba for making progress in promoting rights
related to nutrition, education and health, but not freedom of expression.

"Various national delegations, including those of Canada, the United
Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Chile, Italy and Slovakia,
expressed concern about Cuba's violation of the right to freedom of
expression and the continued imprisonment of journalists and human
rights defenders," the IPI said.

The U.N. panel, however, noted that 79 people were arrested in 2003 in
an "arbitrary" manner. Among those detained in that government crackdown
were 29 journalists, of whom 21 remain imprisoned, the IPI said.

Dissident organizations on the communist-ruled island estimate the total
number of political prisoners in Cuba at around 207.

"I am indeed glad to see that the report includes concerns about the
lack of freedom of expression in Cuba, as well as recommendations to
lift restrictions on this fundamental right," IPI Director David Dadge said.

"However, I feel that these concerns are not given enough visibility in
a report that also extensively commends Cuba's achievements in the field
of social and economic rights, providing a relatively positive
assessment of the general human rights situation in the country," he said.

"Cuba's suppression of dissenting voices, thoroughly and systematically
carried out for so many years, strongly affects our ability to
understand and assess the situation in the country," Dadge said.

The IPI statement noted the case of journalist Omar Rodriguez Saludes,
director of the independent Nueva Prensa Cubana news agency, who was
arrested in March 2003 and sentenced to 27 years in prison.

The IPI said it prepared a video that contains interviews with
Rodriguez's relatives and photos of the journalist, whose case is a
"powerful reminder that fundamental rights are still being violated in
Cuba."

The International Press Institute describes itself as a global network
of editors, media executives and leading journalists "dedicated to the
furtherance and safeguarding of press freedom, the protection of freedom
of opinion and expression, the promotion of the free flow of news and
information, and the improvement of the practices of journalism." EFE

Latin American Herald Tribune - Group Calls for Release of 22 Jailed
Journalists in Cuba (8 July 2009)
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=338744&CategoryId=14510