CUBA: Amnesty International has added 75 Cuban dissidents recently given long jail sentences to its list of "prisoners of conscience". Previously it listed only 15 people held in Cuba.
The arrest, trial and conviction of the dissidents in April was condemned internationally. Amnesty said it was an "unprecedented crackdown after a period of apparent movement towards a more open and permissive approach". It is calling on the Cuban authorities to release the dissidents, arguing that none was convicted of any acts involving violence and that their trials were hasty and unfair.
Many have been active dissidents for years. Most received long sentences, ranging up to 28 years, and even first offenders were given harsh sentences.
Several were convicted under a new law passed as an explicit response to the US tightening its embargo on Cuba. The law provides stiff prison terms for anyone found guilty of supporting US policy against Cuba.
Calling on Cuba to suspend the law, Amnesty says it is arbitrary and vague in criminalising "any act intended to impede or prejudice" Cuba's economic relations.
After examining 51 of the 75 cases in detail, it says the dissidents were not charged under articles of the penal code covering spying or revealing state secrets.