prison officials prevented his wife to bring him the "meager rations of food and medicine" allowed to other detainees, BosNewsLife learned Thursday August 12.
The reportedly weak and hungry Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet was to be visited on Monday, July 12, by his wife, Elsa Morejan Hernandez, but she and other relatives were apparently forced to leave the premises with the food and toiletry they brought with them.
"I know that my husband’s life is in danger and welcome the urgent intercession of all men and women of good will in the world, including Cuban authorities," said Morejan Hernandez in a statement seen by BosNewsLife.
"This man does not deserve to die in a dungeon. This man and his family have lost everything except God for the noble cause of human rights. He deserves a just treatment. He is not a danger to society and deserves to be free with his family and his people," she added.
"PUNISHMENT CELL"
"Dr. Biscet has been forced to live on handouts from fellow prisoners because regime authorities refuse to permit his wife to bring in the meager rations of food and medicine that are allowed other prisoners," confirmed United States State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher. "The Cuban regime has knowingly done this while his health has deteriorated markedly," he said last month.
Morejan Hernandez explained she has learned that her husband is "in a punishment cell" of "3 ft. by 6 ft., with insufficient light and ventilation, no shower or running water and a hole for the toilet."
"He bathes using water from a bucket and must sleep on the floor for there is no bed. He is prohibited from keeping any books, including his Bible, nor any other personal belongings such as: food, vitamins and non prescription medications," she stressed.
"The only items allowed in the cell are: a bed sheet, a towel, toothpaste, dental floss, soap, and deodorant. His civilian clothes, together with his shoes and underwear, were confiscated on April 23rd and given to me in accordance with prison rules. Since April 23rd he only wears a pair of shorts and bath slippers," Morejan Hernandez said.
CHRISTIAN ACTIVIST
Dr. Biscet, who is known to be a Christian pro-life activist and a medical doctor opposing abortion and the death penalty as well as the Communist regime, was sentenced to 25 years on 7 April 2003 as part of a massive crackdown on human rights activists across the island.
He was earlier sentenced to a three-year term on charges of "disrespecting patriotic symbols" including hanging a Cuban flag upside down during a news conference, news reports said. Cuban leader Fidel Castro has reportedly called him a "crazy little man."
However Morejan Hernandez described her husband as a 41 year old "black, married father"
who she said did notthing more than "honoring the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, opposing the death penalty and abortion, and organizing pro democracy movements to demand his fellow countrymen’s human rights through nonviolent civil disobedience."
DOZENS JAILED
The State Department said Dr. Biscet is only one of over 70 independent civil society activists sentenced to long jail terms in April 2003. "We call on the Cuban government to allow humanitarian organizations to monitor its treatment of prisoners," Spokesman Boucher said.
He added that the State Department "continues to compile a watch list of Cubans who abuse" their fellow citizens. "Those who forbid Cubans from exercising their fundamental freedoms will not find refuge in the United States," he warned.
"Cubans who abuse their fellow citizens…will not find refuge in the United States." Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a human rights watchdog, has urged its supporters to "urgently pray" for Dr. Biscet.
CSW and other human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have suggested that faith has enabled him to say to guards who tortured him with cigarettes: "God loves you." Human rights organizations hope that international pressure will help to win the release of Dr. Biscet and other dissidents.
KNOWN DISSIDENT RELEASED
Last month Marta Beatriz Roque, another known dissident, was released from jail 15 months after a court in Havana sentenced her to 20 years in prison during a major political crackdown. The 58-year-old economist is the 14th dissident to be released by the communist government of President Fidel Castro in recent months, news reports said.
Roque was apparently released for health reasons as she suffered from diabetes, hypertension and partial paralysis of the face since she was jailed in March last year.
Last week, another pro democracy activist, 47-year-old Margarito Broche was taken to a hospital in the capital, Havana, after suffering a heart attack, dissident sources said. The Associated Press reported August 6, there was no official word on his condition.
