Thursday, January 21, 1999; 5:35 p.m. EST

PARIS (AP) -- The French press freedom group, Reporters Without Borders, has complained to Cuban leader Fidel Castro about the conviction of a Cuban journalist for anti-socialist conduct.

Jesus Joel Diaz Hernandez was sentenced to four years in prison on Tuesday by a court in Moron, in the province of Ciego de Avila, for ``social dangerousness,'' Reporters Without Borders said in a letter to Castro dated Wednesday.

Information about what led to such a conviction was not available. Diaz Hernandez reportedly has begun a hunger strike to protest his conviction, which the group said came just a day after his arrest.

Reporters Without Borders demanded that he be released ``immediately and without conditions'' and that all charges be dropped. The group said it did not know where he was being held.

Diaz Hernandez works for a news agency run by independent journalists, Cooperativa Avilena de Periodistas Independientes.