Nobel prize winner
Harold Pinter and
110 British Members of Parliament call on US
Attorney General to release Five Cubans
Nobel
prize winner, Harold Pinter, 110 MPs, and 15 trade union
General Secretaries are among the thousands of British names
on an open letter sent by the UK Cuba Solidarity Campaign to
the US Attorney General today calling for the immediate
release of the five Cuban prisoners known in this country as
the Miami 5.
The
Open letter has been released by the British Cuba Solidarity
Campaign(CSC) in advance of the new hearing on 13 February
2006 to gain publicity for cause of the Five in the UK and
internationally.
Many British MPs were moved to add their names to the
letter after a meeting at the House of Commons with, Olga
Salanueva, wife of Rene González in December 2005, which
took place during a visit to the UK by her and her duaghter
Ivette, organised by the British Cuba Solidarity Campaign.
The delegation undertook a programme throughout the UK
organised by CSC, most importantly with the All Party
Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Cuba, Mrs Salanueva explained
to MPs how she and her 7 year old daughter Ivette had been
unable to visit Rene for 5 years because the US refuses to
grant her a visa.
Chair of the APPG Dr Ian Gibson said "The fact that
these men were arrested and charged with spying because they
infiltrated US based groups carrying out terrorist attacks
on Cuba, exposes the double standards of the United States
War on Terror."
The open letter which also condemns the treatment of the
prisoners families has been signed by over 10,000 people in
Britain.
Just one week ago, Amnesty International also joined the
international call for a retrial of the prisoners. In a
letter to the US State Department the international human
rights group raised "urgent concerns" and "serious questions"
about the fairness of their convictions.
On hearing how many MPs and supporters had signed the
letter, Olga Salanueva, thanked the British Cuba Solidarity
Campaign and public for their support. Speaking from Cuba
she said: "During these seven years of suffering and
sorrow, we the relatives of the Five, feel that we are not
alone because we can count on honest people like you. The
fact that Harold Pinter has also signed this letter along
with more than 100 MPs really shows our families that the
solidarity I felt when I was in the UK in December 2005 is a
real force. I am sure that support such as this from friends
across the world will help to bring our loved ones home."
Rob Miller, Director of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign said:
"The Cuba Solidarity Campaign first wrote to MPs in late
December about the case. The fact that more than 100 have
already signed the open letter in such a short space of time
is a testament to the strength of injustice felt throughout
Britain about this case."
For further information please contact Natasha Hickman on
+44 20 7263 6452 or at campaigns@cuba-solidarity.org.uk
Notes to Editors:
1 Open letter wording:
Mr. Alberto Gonzales
Attorney General of the United States of America
According to information supplied by International Press,
on August 9, 2005, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in
Atlanta declared null and void the decision passed in Miami
which had condemned Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, René González
Sehwerert, Ramón Labańino Salazar, Antonio Guerrero
Rodríguez and Fernando González Llort for infiltrating the
extremist Cuban American groups in the south of Florida in
order to obtain information about terrorist activities
directed against Cuba. Their prison sentences had already
been declared illegal by the Working Group on Arbitrary
Detentions of the Human Rights Commission of the United
Nations.
For the past seven years, these five young men have been
held in maximum security prisons; they have been held
incommunicado in isolated cells for long periods of time and
two of them have been denied the right to receive family
visits.
At this present time, considering the nullification of
the sentence, nothing justifies their incarceration. This
arbitrary situation, which is extremely painful for them and
their families, cannot be allowed to continue. We, who have
signed below, are demanding their immediate liberation.
2 A list of key signatories to the Open letter can be
found at
