(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called for the immediate release of José Ubaldo Izquierdo Hernández, jailed since the March 2003 crackdown, whose prison doctors have said his state of health is incompatible with imprisonment. “The condition of José Ubaldo Izquierdo Hernández requires care that cannot be provided in jail, the prison doctors have recognised […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called for the immediate release of José Ubaldo Izquierdo Hernández, jailed since the March 2003 crackdown, whose prison doctors have said his state of health is incompatible with imprisonment.
“The condition of José Ubaldo Izquierdo Hernández requires care that cannot be provided in jail, the prison doctors have recognised it themselves”, said the press freedom organisation.
“The journalist’s recovery calls for him to be freed immediately, or, failing that, to be granted a temporary release for health reasons. We hope that the Cuban authorities will respond favourably to this humanitarian request”, it added.
Doctors meeting in Havana on 9 February 2006 confirmed that Izquierdo Hernández’s condition in Guanajay prison in Havana province had seriously deteriorated over the past nine months, the Cubanet news agency reported.
Gastroenterologist Dr Vázquez found lesions in the stomach while carrying out an endoscopy on the journalist. The specialist detected a stomach inflammation and recent gastro-intestinal bleeding and recommended a strict diet.
Once informed of the specialist’s diagnosis, Dr Miriela Gómez Rodríguez, head of medical services at Guanajay prison, told the journalist that he could not be treated in prison. The doctor prescribed a treatment to “ease the inflammation of the gastric mucus”. “That’s all we can do”, she explained.
Izquierdo Hernández, 40, was arrested on 18 March 2003 and sentenced to 16 years in prison. The former head of an independent library in Güines, Havana province, where he originates from, was working for the Grupo de Trabajo Decoro news agency before his arrest. Two other dissident journalists who worked for the same agency have also been in jail since 2003: Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez and Omar Moisés Ruiz Hernández, sentenced to 20 and 18 years in prison, respectively. A third member of the Grupo de Trabajo Decoro, Oscar Mario González Pérez, has been held without trial since 22 July 2005.
