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+ AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION BULLETIN +
+ Electronic distribution authorised +
+ This bulletin expires: 30 August 1999. +
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PUBLIC AI Index: AMR 25/33/99
19 July 1999
UA 169/99 Prisoner of conscience
CUBA Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina
Political activist Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina was arbitrarily
arrested on 11 July 1999, and his whereabouts are now unknown.
Amnesty International considers him a prisoner of conscience,
detained solely for exercising his right to freedom of
expression. Under harsh new legislation aimed at silencing
dissent, he could face a long prison sentence.
Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina, who is president of the Movimiento de
Jovenes Cubanos por la Democracia (MJCD), Cuban Youth Movement
for Democracy, was arrested at the MJCD coordinator's home in
Santiago de Cuba. It is believed he was arrested because he had
begun a hunger strike in solidarity with a group of dissidents
in Havana known as the Ayunantes de Tamarindo 34, Tamarindo 34
Hunger-strikers, who began a 40-day hunger strike on 7 June to
demand the release of all political prisoners and respect for
human rights in Cuba.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina has been arrested several
times. He was last detained for several days in February and March 1999.
He was detained from 7-15 December 1998 after making a personal protest at
the Cuban government's refusal to let him leave the country to attend a
conference in Paris marking the 50th anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (see UA 307/98, AMR 25/28/98, 9 December 1998,
and follow-up, AMR 25/29/98, 18 December 1998). He had previously been
arrested in April 1997 and sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment for
"disrespect", and "resisting authority", after criticising the Fourteenth
Youth and Student Festival.
He was also arrested on 6 June 1996, reportedly in connection
with the MJCD's peaceful attempts to organize a movement for
university reform in the capital. He was sentenced to 12 months'
"restricted liberty", as well as five years of "destierro", internal exile
or confinement, in his home town of Baracoa,
Guantanamo province.
On 16 February 1999 Cuba's National Assembly passed tough new
legislation aimed at combatting political dissent, called the
"Ley de Proteccion de la Independencia Nacional y la Economia de Cuba",
"Law for the Protection of the National Independence and Economy of Cuba".
Under this new law, dissidents and journalists deemed to be working
against the Cuban state reportedly face up to 20 years' imprisonment. The
law calls for seven to 15 years' imprisonment for passing information to
the United States that could be used to bolster anti-Cuban measures such
as the US economic blockade of the island, rising to 20 years if the
information is acquired surreptitiously. The legislation also
bans the ownership, distribution or reproduction of "subversive materials"
from the US government, and proposes jail terms of up to five years for
collaborating with radio and TV stations and publications deemed to be
assisting US policy.
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+ Supporters of Amnesty International around the world are +
+ writing urgent appeals in response to the concerns +
+ described above. If you would like to join with them in +
+ this action or have any queries about the Urgent Action +
+ network or Amnesty International in general, please +
+ contact one of the following: +
+ +
+ Ray Mitchell, ua@amnesty.org.uk (UK) +
+ Scott Harrison, sharrison@igc.apc.org (USA) +
+ Guido Gabriel, ggabriel@amnesty.cl.sub.de (Germany) +
+ Marilyn McKim, mmckim@amnesty.ca (Canada) +
+ ua@aibf.be (Belgium) +
+ Anne Nolan, ua@amnesty.iol.ie (Ireland) +
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