- Title: Amnesty International names five new political prisoners in Cuba
- Date: 27th August 2019
- Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (FILE - DECEMBER 10, 2014) (REUTERS) POLICE OFFICIALS PUSHING MEMBERS OF THE RIGHTS GROUP LADIES IN WHITE INTO VEHICLE, LADY IN WHITE YELLING 'THEY'RE ABUSERS AND ASSASSINS' POLICE PUSHING MEMBER OF GROUP INTO VEHICLE GROUP OF GOVERNMENT SUPPORTERS CHANTING 'WHATEVER FIDEL NEEDS' MEMBER OF RIGHTS GROUP CHANTING 'LIBERTY', GOVERNMENT SUPPORTING PUSHING HIM
- Embargoed: 10th September 2019 22:05
- Keywords: Cuba rights Amnesty International prisoners of conscience
- Location: HAVANA, CUBA
- City: HAVANA, CUBA
- Country: Cuba
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001ATZUYBR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Amnesty International named five new prisoners of conscience in Cuba on Monday (August 26) and said their detention underscored how the presidential handover last year from Raul Castro had not changed the country's repressive tactics.
Amnesty said there were likely many more Cubans who had been detained for peacefully expressing their views whose cases it was a challenge to document because authorities deny access to international rights groups.
All of the prisoners it listed were associated with opposition organisations in the one-party state.
Cuban authorities do not comment on police activity such as the detention of dissidents, who have limited support inside the island, and dismisses them as a tiny minority of provocateurs financed by the United States to subvert the government.
Many Cuban activists and independent journalists are complaining of growing harassment.
They say that is a sign the government is nervous because the launch of mobile internet last December has given them more of a public platform and ability to mobilise at a time of heightened political and economic tension.
Cuba, which was already struggling with a decline in Venezuelan aid in recent years, is facing more hostility and sanctions from its long-time foe, the United States.
Cuba has also undergone a leadership transition, with Castro handing the presidency over last year to his right-hand man, Miguel Diaz-Canel.
The Madrid-based non-governmental rights group Cuban Prisoners Defenders, which has links to UNPACU, estimates there are at least 70 political prisoners on the island. Amnesty said it updated its own list after reviewing some of those cases.
All of the prisoners Amnesty listed were men who had been detained since 2015 and sentenced to one to five years of prison for "public disorder," "contempt" or "dangerousness."
The latter two charges are inconsistent with international law, it said. "Dangerousness" - the possibility someone could eventually commit a crime - is a catch-all used against anyone authorities do not like, critics say.
Two of the five prisoners had been badly beaten by prison officials, Amnesty cited their relatives as saying.
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