Cuba: One year too many: prisoners of conscience from the March 2003 crackdown
In the space of a few days beginning on 18 March 2003, the Cuban authorities arrested scores of dissidents in targeted sweeps. Some were subsequently released, but 75 of them were subjected to hasty and manifestly unfair trials in early April and quickly sentenced to long prison terms of up to 28 years. Most appealed their sentences, but the appeals were rejected. This report examines the prison conditions in which the prisoners of conscience, including allegations of ill-treatment and ill-health.