Havana, Cuba. September 8, 2004.

CUBAN POLITICAL PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE, DR. OSCAR ELIAS BISCET CONTINUES CONFINED IN CRITICAL CONDITIONS

I have not committed an act of indiscipline but have only requested security measures for my personal wellbeing due to the difficulties within the prison compound. No prisoner should be penalized for this but, if authorities are following high governmental orders, then I will carry out with dignity this unjust punishment. My conscience and my spirit are well.

Dr. Biscet

Cell # 5, Kilo 8 Prison

Pinar del Rio

This note from my husband was handed to us on August 26, during a prison visit. For the period of 17 months after his summary trial on April 7, 2003, my husband has been confined 8 months in punishment cells suffering inhumane prison conditions. He's been cut off from his family, forbidden from receiving any visits, telephone calls, food or any literature. He's been deprived of sunlight; his correspondence is intercepted and he is denied his personal belongings. He sleeps on a cement slab and only at 10:00 p.m. he is given a small mattress.

From February 2003, through September 7, 2004, he has only been permitted 4 family visits, 3 deliveries of food provisions, and has never been allowed to make or receive any phone calls. During the 5 months he was confined with dangerous criminals, he felt harassed and pressured to comply with a discipline incongruent with his personality and his principles, reason he refuses to cohabit a cell with such individuals.

Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet is president of the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights. His only crimes are to honor the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, oppose the death sentence, and desire to live in a democracy in his own country. Dr. Biscet cannot practice as a physician in Cuba. He served a three year sentence in a maximum security prison in the province of Holguin, 768 kms. away from his home. He was released in November 2002, and arrested once more on December 6 of the same year.

My husband is a man who preaches and practices nonviolence and who loves justice. The treatment he is being subjected to in prison goes against his health, his dignity and his physical integrity. He suffers essential high blood pressure, hereditary high cholesterol, a deplorable dental health, and severe digestive disorders.

We are aware that Cuba is signatory of international covenants and prohibits these punishments, and we are also aware that these acts constitute an attempt against human rights. Thus, we request solidarity from international human rights groups, democratic governments, and from all those devoted to justice, to intercede on behalf of my husband before the Cuban government so that he is treated in a respectable manner during the time he must be in prison.

With gratitude,

Elsa Morejon Hernandez

Wife of prisoner of conscience Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet

Tel: + 53-7-991774



Letter sent by Elsa Morejon to the organization plantados. Tel: 305-269-1812. Email: Plantados@bellsouth.net

Translation to English by the Coalition of Cuban-American Women/LAIDA CARRO.

Email: Joseito76@aol.com