U.S. GOVERNMENT DENIES LIBERTY TO 12 CUBANS

7 To Get Political Asylum In Third Country

Judicial Watch Presses for Asylum For Future Freedom Seekers

(Miami, FL)–Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and abuse, has expressed outrage over the repatriation of 12 Cuban freedom seekers who are members of a well-known dissident group called “Feb. 24 Movement,” formed to protest the shoot down of humanitarian airplanes by Cuban Migs on that date in 1996.

The renowned dissidents–19 in all--were intercepted at sea last week by the U.S. Coast Guard. Seven were sent to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, where they now have protected status, while the other 12 remained on a cutter in coast guard custody for five days. Late Monday, they were sent back to Fidel Castro’s island prison, where intellectual dissidents serve lengthy terms in deplorable and inhumane cells and where desperation to flee drives some to take a ferry then get executed by firing squad for doing so.

“First the U.S. Government cuts a deal with a terrorist dictator regarding sentences for a dozen people who supposedly “hijacked” a boat to escape. Then, within weeks, it sends well-known dissidents, from a renowned group, back to Castro’s island prison to face persecution. Something is very wrong with this policy and Judicial Watch is now planning legal measures to end it,” said Larry Klayman, Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel.