(WAN/IFEX) – In an 18 March 2002 letter to the interior minister, General Abelardo Colomé Ibarra, WAN and the World Editors Forum (WEF) expressed their serious concern over the arrest of journalist Carlos Alberto Domínguez. According to reports, Domínguez, of the Cuba Verdad independent press agency, was arrested on 23 February at his home by […]
(WAN/IFEX) – In an 18 March 2002 letter to the interior minister, General Abelardo Colomé Ibarra, WAN and the World Editors Forum (WEF) expressed their serious concern over the arrest of journalist Carlos Alberto Domínguez.
According to reports, Domínguez, of the Cuba Verdad independent press agency, was arrested on 23 February at his home by four state security police officers. Domínguez, who suffers from migraines and high blood pressure, was first jailed in Havana at a centre run by the Technical Investigation Department, before being transferred to the Mariana military hospital on 8 March.
Domínguez has reportedly been charged with “disturbing public order” and “refusing to obey instructions”. He is also said to have been accused of helping to organise political demonstrations.
WAN and WEF noted that Cuba is currently the only country in Latin America where journalists are imprisoned for their professional activities; independent journalists Lester Téllez Castro and Carlos Brizuela Yera have been detained for a fortnight (see IFEX alerts of 15 and 7 March 2002), while Bernardo Arévalo Padrón, head of the Linéa Sur Press agency, has been in jail since November 1997 (see IFEX alerts of 23 and 17 January 2002, 4 July, 4 May, 12 April, 26 and 12 March and 20 February 2001, 25 July and 11 April 2000, 10 December, 22 October, 17 June and 29 January 1999 and 21 September 1998).
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the interior minister:
– reminding him that if Domínguez’s jailing is related to his journalistic activities this would constitute a clear breach of his right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by numerous international conventions
– noting that the United Nations Commission on Human Rights considers that “detention, as punishment for the peaceful expression of an opinion, is one of the most reprehensible ways to enjoin silence and, as a consequence, a grave violation of human rights”
– calling on him to ensure that Domínguez, Castro, Yera and Padrón are immediately released and that all charges against them are dropped
– urging him to do everything possible to ensure that in future Cuba fully respects international standards of freedom of expression
Appeals To
The Right Honourable General Abelardo Colomé Ibarra
Interior Minister
Havana, Cuba
c/o Permanent Representative to UN
E-mail: cuba@un.int
Please copy appeals to WAN.
