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Alert

Third journalist released

(RSF/IFEX) - On 2 December 2004, Cuban authorities released journalist Edel José García Díaz from prison. He was the third independent journalist in the country to be released during the week of 30 November, following Oscar Espinosa Chepe and Raúl Rivero. Officially, all three journalists are now under house arrest after being allowed to leave prison for health reasons. García Díaz has a digestive ailment, high blood pressure and problems with his vision.

The founder and editor of the independent news agency Centro Norte del País, García Díaz was arrested at his Havana home on 18 March 2003 and sentenced to 15 years in prison under Law 88 on Collaboration with the United States (US). He was accused of contributing to the US Congress-funded radio station Radio Martí as well as Florida-based websites and working with other independent journalists to produce the Cuban newsletter "Expresión Libre". Two undercover agents who had posed as dissident journalists were witnesses for the prosecution at his trial.

Aged 59 and the holder of a philology degree, García Díaz has been an independent journalist for many years. A state official had already pressured him in 1997 in an attempt to get him to give up his journalism work.