Celebrities call for justice for prisoners held in United
States
29 September 2008
Vivienne Westwood, Jasper Conran, Howard Hodgkin and
Carlos Acosta join with nine Nobel Laureates to call for justice
for the Miami Five
Full page adverts to appear in
national press
Over 100 personalities from the worlds
of politics, media, the law and the arts have come together to sign
full page adverts in the national media calling for justice and
family visiting rights for five Cuban men imprisoned in the United
States.
Signatories include writers Iain Banks,
Beverley Naidoo and Harold Pinter and actors Julie Christie, Tony
Booth, Susannah York and Maxine Peake. Nobel Laureates who have
signed include Desmond Tutu and novelists José Saramago and Günter
Grass.
Full page adverts calling for justice for the
‘Miami Five’ will appear in the Guardian and Independent newspapers
on Tuesday 30 September to mark the 10th anniversary of the arrest
of the five Cubans unjustly jailed for trying to stop US based
terrorist attacks against their country.
The Miami Five, as they have become known,
have spent ten years in US prisons following their arrests in Miami
where they were gathering information about right wing groups
working out of Florida who had been launching terrorist attacks
against Cuba.
The press adverts are part of the international campaign to break
the media silence around this case and to call for visiting rights
for two of the wives of the prisoners, Olga Salanueva, wife of René
González and Adriana Pérez, wife of Gerardo Hernández who have both
been denied the right by the US authorities to even see their
husbands for 8 and 10 years.
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention, part of the UN Commission on Human Rights, have ruled
that the detention of the five men was arbitrary and in violation
of international law. Amnesty International have condemned this
measure as “unnecessarily punitive and contrary both to standards
for the humane treatment of prisoners and to states’ obligation to
protect family life.’
Tony Woodley, joint general secretary Unite
said: “This case represents a travesty of justice by the US
government who are using the Miami Five to make a political point
against Cuba. To deny the families the right to visit their loved
ones is totally inhumane.” Unite has been leading a labour movement
campaign for justice for the five.
Rob Miller, director of the Cuba Solidarity
Campaign said “It is fabulous to see that so many personalities
have come together with politicians and trade unionists to campaign
for justice for these five brave men and their families. We need to
make a noise so loud that it will be heard right at the heart of
the White House”
Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez, will be in
the UK next week to join with celebrities and members of the public
at a candlelit vigil outside the US Embassy on Tuesday 7 October to
appeal to the US Government for the right to visit their
husbands.
Ends
For interviews or more information
contact:
Rob Miller, Director, Cuba Solidarity Campaign on: director@cuba-solidarity.org.uk
or 07930 693 900 or
Natasha Hickman, Communications Manager, Cuba Solidarity Campaign
on: communications@cuba-solidarity.org.uk
or 07813 689777
Notes to editors:
- The Miami Five are Gerardo Hernández Nordelo,
Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René
González. They were sentenced to prison terms of between 15 to 25
years in the USA after being convicted of conspiracy to act as
agents of the Cuban government and related charges.
-
National Press advert, including full list of signatories,
is attached.
- Amnesty International on the case:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e%26id=ENGAMR510132007
- The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention, part of the UN Commission on Human Rights, has ruled
that the detention of the five men was arbitrary and in violation
of international law.
- Further information about the Miami Five can
be found at: http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/miami5
- The Cuba Solidarity Campaign is a UK NGO that
campaigns against the illegal US blockade of Cuba and for respect
for Cuba's sovereignty.
- Unite has made a short campaigning which will
be sent to 100s of thousands of union members and is posted on You
Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KIKBq1d84w
