International Freedom of Expression Exchange: The global network for free expression
1 July 2004
JOURNALISTS RELEASED FROM PRISON
Two journalists who were sentenced in 2003 to lengthy prison terms have been granted an early release, report the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) and the Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN (WiPC).
Manuel Vázquez Portal, winner of a CPJ International Press Freedom Award in 2003, was released on 23 June 2004 on medical grounds, five days after Carmelo Díaz Fernández was granted parole. Vázquez Portal suffers from a lung disease while Díaz Fernández has high blood pressure. They were serving respective jail sentences of 18 years and 16 years.
IFEX members have been campaigning for the release of the journalists, who are among at least 29 independent journalists who were sentenced to prison terms of between 14 and 27 years in April 2003. That followed a massive government crackdown on the independent press and on political opponents who were accused of being pro-American "counter-revolutionaries" (see: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/57602/).
For more information on the fate of Cuba's imprisoned journalists, visit:
- RSF: http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=367
- CPJ: http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2003/cubacrackdown/index.html
- WiPC: http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/
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