CHRISTIAN SOLIDARITY WORLDWIDE

For immediate release

December 9 2002

HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST REARRESTED IN CUBA AFTER PEACEFUL PROTEST

A human rights activist who was released from prison in Cuba on October 31 after serving a three year sentence has been rearrested.

Dr Oscar Elias Biscet was detained by police on December 6 at a home in the Lawton district of Havana.

According to the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights, since his release Dr Biscet has been promoting a grassroots project for the promotion of human rights called ‘Friends of Human Rights’.

The project attempts to provide a forum in which ordinary Cuban citizens who want to learn more about human rights can meet in small groups at homes for this purpose. The project is directed at educating Cuban citizens as to their basic human rights and how to claim them.

Dr Biscet was arriving at one such meeting on December 6 when state security agents blocked the entrance and prevented him and 11 other individuals from entering. At that point the 12 Cubans, in an act of non-violent civil disobedience, lay down on the ground and shouted “Long live human rights!” and “Freedom for Cuban political prisoners!”

They were arrested and are being held at the 10th Unit of National Revolutionary Police on Acosta Avenue in Havana.

Dr Biscet, aged 41, and a devout Christian, is the founder of the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights, which promotes the defence of all human rights through non-violent means. He has modelled his own work and that of the organisation on the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr. He has been detained 26 times and was only recently released from Cuban prison after serving a three year sentence for ‘dishonouring public symbols’, ‘public disorder’ and ‘inciting delinquent behaviour’ after he organised a peaceful silent march in support of human rights and freedom for political prisoners in his neighbourhood.

While in prison, Dr Biscet’s Bible was confiscated a number of times as a punishment and he was consistently denied the right to pastoral visits. He was also frequently denied medical treatment, family visits and access to the prison library. He was repeatedly forced to share a cell with mentally ill inmates as a form of punishment. Cuba is one of the only countries in the world that bars the International Red Cross and other humanitarian agencies from visiting its prisons. Christian Solidarity Worldwide has made representations to the European Union, the UK Foreign Office and Cuban Embassy in London and has asked supporters to do the same.

Mervyn Thomas, Chief Executive of CSW said: “We are deeply disappointed that the Cuban government has chosen to rearrest Dr Biscet for exercising his basic human rights. This action sends a clear message to the international community about the Cuban regime’s attitude towards progress on human rights.

“It is our hope that the European Union and other democratic countries will make a sharp statement condemning the arrest of Dr Biscet and the other 11 Cubans who were detained with him. Our prayers go out for his wife Elsa Morejon who has only been reunited with her husband for a little over a month.”

For more information, or a picture of Dr Biscet’s wife, contact Richard Chilvers at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on 020 8949 0587 or 020 8942 8810 or email or go to http://www.csw.org.uk

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