The lawyer and prisoner of conscience Rolando Jimenez Posada was attacked physically in the prison of El Guayabo in the island of the Youth.

According to his mother, Miriam Pozada,  her son informed her by telephonic way, that he is about to lose the vision of an eye following the wild aggression that he underwent to hands of several common prisoners who struck    him with a stick while he was endured. This fact arrived past December 31. 

 The penitentiary officials took the drastic measure of isolating Rolando in a cell of punishment, according to them " to protect him from other assaults ". " The common causative convict of these injuries together with the accomplices is walked with impunity inside the prison ", indicated Miriam and she makes  responsible   the Security of  State and the Cuban Government for the physical integrity of her  son, since the aggression coincides with the interview that the prisoner of conscience was offering by telephonic way to a journalist of Cuban Press, immediately after the affirmations of the director of the official diary Granma on  December 17.

A lawyer, Rolando Jiménez Pozada was arrested on April 25, 2003 — at the tail end of the "black spring" crackdown by Cuban authorities . Jiménez was accused of disrespecting Fidel Castro after he "made up signs calling for an end to the dictatorship and for freedom and democracy for the Cuban people " .

Jiménez was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the supposed "crimes" of "revealing state secrets" and "aggravated disrespect."

Amnesty International has named Jiménez as a prisoner of conscience.

Jiménez is married to independent journalist Lamasiel Gutiérrez Romero, who was released from prison earlier this year, after severing a several-month sentence for "resisting the authorities and civil disobedience."

RECOMMENDED ACTION : Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Spanish or your own language :

• urging the authorities to take immediate action to guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Roland Jiménez Pozada ;
• Conduct a fair, impartial and independent inquiry into the events above-mentioned, in order to bring the authors to justice and pronounce sentences proportional to the gravity of their crimes;
• asking the authorities to release Roland Jiménez Pozada immediately and unconditionally, as he is a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression
• Conform with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, especially its article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels” and article 12.2, which provides that “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”;
• requesting that all human rights activists and political dissidents engaged in legitimate non-violent activities be permitted to carry out their activities unhindered without fear for reprisals.

APPEALS TO :
Head of State and Government
Raul Castro Ruz
Presidente interino
La Habana, Cuba
Fax : + 53 7 8333085 (c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs) or + 1 2127791697 (c/o Cuban Mission to UN)
Email : f_castro@cuba.gov.cu or cuba@un.int (c/o Cuban Mission to UN)
Salutation : Su Excelencia/ Your Excellency

Attorney-General
D^r Juan Escalona Reguera
Fiscal General de la Republica,
FiscalÌa General de la Republica, San Rafael 3, La Habana, Cuba
Fax : + 53 7 669 485 / 333 164
Salutation : Senor Fiscal General / Dear Attorney General

Minister of Foreign Affairs
Sr Felipe Perez Roque
Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Calzada No. 360, Vedado, La Habana, Cuba
Fax :+ 53 7 8333 085
E-mail : cubaminrex@minrex.gov.cu
Salutation : Senor Ministro / Dear Minister

Interior Secretary
General Abelardo Coloma Ibarra
Ministro del Interior y Prisiones
Ministerio del Interior, Plaza de la Revolucion, La Habana, Cuba
Fax : + 53 7 8301 566
Salutation : Senor Ministro / Dear Minister

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.