"The journalists are held in poor conditions, with insufficient medical care, subjected to isolation, prohibition of visits and severe punishment when they choose to fast or disobey prison rules to protest their mistreatment,’" said the WAN Board in a resolution issued on the even of the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum, the global meetings of the world’s press.

The resolution said:

The Board of the World Association of Newspapers, meeting at the 57th World Newspaper Congress in Istanbul, Turkey, 30 May to 2 June 2004, strongly condemns the continued imprisonment of 32 Cuban journalists.

The journalists are held in poor conditions, with insufficient medical care, subjected to isolation, prohibition of visits and severe punishment when they choose to fast or disobey prison rules to protest their mistreatment.

A dozen of the imprisoned journalists, most of them elderly, are seriously ill, and six of them have been hospitalized with life-threatening conditions including cancer, cirrhosis and cardiovascular problems.

28 of the journalists were arrested and sentenced during a wave of repression in March 2003. They were sentenced to between 14 and 27 years in maximum security prisons far from their homes and families.

Three of the 32 journalists have been in custody for more than two years without trial.

The Board of WAN calls on the government of Cuba to release all imprisoned journalists and to cease the harassment of people who try to disseminate their ideas, opinions and news inside and outside the country.

The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 72 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 13 news agencies and ten regional and world-wide press groups.

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr.