April 9 2003

A prominent Cuban human rights activist faces 25 years in prison as part of a massive crackdown by the government on pro-democracy and human rights activists.

Dr Oscar Elias Biscet was rearrested on December 6 2002 and charged with 'disorderly conduct', part of the arrest of some 80 men and women in the last two weeks of March.

During his month of freedom he had involved himself in promoting a grassroots project called the Friends of Human Rights, a forum through which small groups of individuals could meet in homes to learn about human rights and ways to defend and demand them peacefully.

He was arrested when Cuban security forces attempted to forcibly prevent Dr Biscet and other human rights activists from entering one of these homes where a Friends of Human Rights meeting was to take place.

According to his wife, Elsa Morej'n Hernandez, the authorities have asked that he be handed a 25 year sentence.

Dr Biscet was released from prison last October 31, after serving a three-year sentence for hanging the Cuban flag upside down in protest at the lack of freedom in the country. His trial comes at the end of a massive crackdown on human rights and pro-democracy activists across the island. International observers were not allowed entry to his trial.

Some men and women, many of them active Christians, have already been sentenced to between 20 and 27 years in prison.

In addition, CSW has learnt that last week Cuban authorities raided the home where his wife is staying and confiscated personal photos, a fax machine, and a personal computer among other items. This will severely restrict her ability to communicate with the outside world.

Dr Oscar Elias Biscet, 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. In 1994 he was officially accused of 'dangerousness' by the Cuban government and thereafter became a target of state security forces.

While in prison, his Bible has been confiscated a number of times as a punishment and he has consistently been denied the right to pastoral visits. He has also been denied family visits, access to the prison library, and medical treatment, which led him to lose all of his molars after chronic problems with his gums. He is now in danger of losing all his teeth as treatment continues to be withheld.

CSW has worked with MPs to produce an Early Day Motion for MPs to sign as
well as mobilising its supporters to write to and fax Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and MEPs.

Mervyn Thomas, CSW's Chief Executive, said: "Dr Biscet is one of dozens of human rights activists that has been appallingly treated by the Cuban government.

"He is charged with 'disorderly conduct' and the authorities want to sentence him to 25 years behind bars. The government is requesting that others charged with similar offences be sentenced to life or even the death penalty.

"The international community should not stand aside and watch this happen, but pressure the Cuban government to reconsider its treatment of human rights activists."