[matilda] Fw: Cuba 5 release call

[Lesley]

Subject: Cuba 5 release call

8 February 2006 

Harold Pinter and 110 MPs call on US Attorney General to release Five Cubans held in US prisons

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 Cuba Solidarity Campaign to the US Attorney General today calling for the immediate release of five Cubans imprisoned in the United States.

 The five Cubans, known internationally as ‘The Miami 5’ have been in US prisons for more than 7 years despite having their convictions overturned by an Appeal Court in Atlanta. The Open letter has been released by the Cuba Solidarity Campaign in advance of a new hearing for the men that takes place on 13 February 2006.
  Many MPs were moved to add their names to the letter after a meeting at the House of Commons with wife of one of the prisoners, Olga Salanueva, in December. At the All Party Parliamentary Group on Cuba meeting, MPs heard how Mrs Salanueva and her 7 year old daughter Ivette had been unable to visit Rene Gonzalez for 5 years because the US refuses to grant 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 hypocrisy of the United States War on Terror.”
  The open letter which also condemns the treatment of the prisoners’ families has been signed by 10,000 people in Britain, and tens of thousands more internationally including Desmond Tutu, Noam Chomsky and Alice Walker.
  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 testament to strength of injustice is felt throughout Britain about this case.”
  For further information please contact Natasha Hickman on
  020 7263 6452 or at campaigns at cuba-solidarity.org.uk


   

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