Celebrities call for justice for the Miami Five in UK national press adverts
Campaign News | Monday, 29 September 2008
Vivienne Westwood, Jasper Conran, Howard Hodgkin and Carlos Acosta join with nine Nobel Laureates to call for justice for the Miami Five
Full page adverts to appear in national press
Over 100 personalities from the worlds of politics, media, the law and the arts have come together to sign full page adverts in the national media calling for justice and family visiting rights for five Cuban men imprisoned in the United States.
Signatories include writers Iain Banks, Beverley Naidoo and Harold Pinter and actors Julie Christie, Tony Booth, Susannah York and Maxine Peake. Nobel Laureates who have signed include Desmond Tutu and novelists José Saramago and Günter Grass.
Full page adverts calling for justice for the ‘Miami Five’ will appear in the Guardian and Independent newspapers on Tuesday 30 September to mark the 10th anniversary of the arrest of the five Cubans unjustly jailed for trying to stop US based terrorist attacks against their country.
The Miami Five, as they have become known, have spent ten years in US prisons following their arrests in Miami where they were gathering information about right wing groups working out of Florida who had been launching terrorist attacks against Cuba.
The press adverts are part of the international campaign to break the media silence around this case and to call for visiting rights for two of the wives of the prisoners, Olga Salanueva, wife of René González and Adriana Pérez, wife of Gerardo Hernández who have both been denied the right by the US authorities to even see their husbands for 8 and 10 years.
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, part of the UN Commission on Human Rights, have ruled that the detention of the five men was arbitrary and in violation of international law. Amnesty International have condemned this measure as “unnecessarily punitive and contrary both to standards for the humane treatment of prisoners and to states’ obligation to protect family life.’
Tony Woodley, joint general secretary Unite said: “This case represents a travesty of justice by the US government who are using the Miami Five to make a political point against Cuba. To deny the families the right to visit their loved ones is totally inhumane.” Unite has been leading a labour movement campaign for justice for the five.
Rob Miller, director of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign said “It is fabulous to see that so many personalities have come together with politicians and trade unionists to campaign for justice for these five brave men and their families. We need to make a noise so loud that it will be heard right at the heart of the White House”
Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez, will be in the UK next week to join with celebrities and members of the public at a candlelit vigil outside the US Embassy on Tuesday 7 October to appeal to the US Government for the right to visit their husbands.
Ends
For interviews or more information contact:
Rob Miller, Director, Cuba Solidarity Campaign on:
director@cuba-solidarity.org.uk or 07930 693 900 or
Natasha Hickman, Communications Manager, Cuba Solidarity Campaign on: communications@cuba-solidarity.org.uk or 07813 689777
Notes to editors:
1.The Miami Five are Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González. They were sentenced to prison terms of between 15 to 25 years in the USA after being convicted of conspiracy to act as agents of the Cuban government and related charges.
2.National Press advert, including full list of signatories, is attached.
3.Amnesty International on the case:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGAMR510132007
4.The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, part of the UN Commission on Human Rights, has ruled that the detention of the five men was arbitrary and in violation of international law.
5.Further information about the Miami Five can be found at http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/miami5
6.The Cuba Solidarity Campaign is a UK NGO that campaigns against the illegal US blockade of Cuba and for respect for Cuba's sovereignty.
7.Unite has made a short campaigning which will be sent to 100s of thousands of union members and is posted on You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KIKBq1d84w
- View the Guardian, Independent and Morning Star adverts here
- Donate to the Free the Five UK campaign here
- Find out about latest actions and October 7 US Embassy vigil here
