Dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer Arrested
HAVANA TIMES — A political opposition group, the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, reported on Thursday that dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer was arrested at his home in Santiago de Cuba, reported the EFE news agency.
A statement issued in Havana by the commission spokesperson Elizardo Sanchez said Ferrer was arrested on Thursday morning, at which time the authorities confiscated “all of his work materials, documents and other belongings of Ferrer and his family.”
Ferrer, 42, was one of the political prisoners of the “Group of the 75,” and currently leads the opposition party “Union Patriotica de Cuba.” He was also picked up and temporarily held by the authorities in February, April and May of this year.
One of the many arrest this year of José Daniel Ferrer García!
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT CALL Cuba: Further information: Cuban prisoner of conscience still held: José Daniel Ferrer García
Cuban government critic José Daniel Ferrer García has been detained without charge for more than 10 days. Amnesty International considers him to be a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression. 42 others arrested at the same time have now been released. José Daniel Ferrer García, the coordinator of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Union Patriótica de Cuba, UNPACU) has been detained without charge since 2 April when he was arrested by security forces along with 42 others as part of a crackdown on government critics in the province of Santiago de Cuba. The others detained – who included his wife Belkis Cantillo Ramírez, a member of the protest group Ladies in White – were all released without a charge a few days after their arrest. José Daniel Ferrer García is being held at the provincial headquarters of the Department of State Security (Departamento de Seguridad del Estado) in the neighbourhood of Versalles, on the outskirts of the city of Santiago de Cuba. He has yet to be charged and has not had access to a lawyer. José Daniel Ferrer García was previously declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, along with 74 others who were imprisoned in 2003 solely for their the peaceful expression of their opinions. He was granted conditional release in March 2011, having served eight of his 25 year sentence. Under the terms of his release, he could be sent back to prison to serve out the remainder of his sentence. Amnesty International believes his arrest is an attempt to repress the peaceful dissident activities he and members of UNPACU are undertaking in eastern Cuba and the organization is once again adopting him as a prisoner of conscience.
Please write immediately in Spanish or your own language:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR25/015/2012/en/795e7fcb-f384-42f9-8bca-40b24e2471ad/amr250152012en.pdf