The organization, based in Washington, says that it is the State’s obligation to ensure the integrity of prisoners
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, November 26, 2024 — The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) showed its “concern” on Monday after allegations of assault by the prison authorities of the opponent and political prisoner José Daniel Ferrer.
The organization, based in Washington, expressed on social networks its “concern about the complaints of physical violence by prison authorities against José Daniel Ferrer” and stressed that the dissident is “deprived of liberty in the context of the protests of July 11, 2021” and is a “beneficiary of precautionary measures granted by the IACHR.”
The commission also recalled in general terms that “the State must guarantee the personal integrity of persons deprived of liberty and avoid torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”
“The State must guarantee the personal integrity of persons deprived of liberty and avoid torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment”
Last week, family members, human rights NGOs and Cuban dissident organizations denounced that Ferrer, considered a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International (AI), was hospitalized after receiving a “brutal beating” from the prison staff where he is imprisoned.
His relatives explained that other prisoners, for political reasons, had transmitted this information to them. Several NGOs, including AI and Prisoners Defenders, validated the story, as well as different opposition groups. For its part, the United States Government was “outraged” by the complaint.
According to the sources that informed the family, Ferrer was assaulted and couldn’t be properly treated in the infirmary of the Mar Verde penitentiary center (Santiago de Cuba), where he is serving his sentence. He was then transferred to the Boniato prison, which supposedly has a better medical center.
They added that he had been admitted to Room A of the prison infirmary for three days. No details are known about his state of health, which according to relatives had deteriorated significantly in the last months, with different health issues now added to previous ones related to his stays in prison.
A minor government media reported that the information about the beating “lacks foundation” and that Ferrer was in a “favorable” condition
The Cuban government has not reported on the matter, nor has the official press. A minor government media said that the information about the beating “lacks foundation” and that Ferrer was in a “favorable” condition.
Ferrer has been in prison since 11 July 2021, when he was arrested for joining the anti-government demonstrations that were taking place that day in different parts of the country in the largest protest in Cuba in decades.
The leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba had already been in prison previously for political reasons. He was one of the 75 intellectuals, journalists and opponents imprisoned in the 2003 repressive wave known as the Black Spring. In 2011 he was released but was subsequently arrested on several occasions.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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