By Dean Graber
Oscar Sánchez Madan was released from prison this week after serving a three-year term for “social dangerousness,” a vague charge he received after covering a local corruption scandal. He tells Radio Martí that he wants to keep writing about current affairs on the island, including Havana’s human rights violations, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports.
Sánchez describes sharing a cell with 12 other prisoners, including people serving 15- to 18-year sentences on charges of murder and other serious crimes. Sanitary conditions were so unhealthy that the state health agency had to be called in, he said.
Twenty-one journalists remain in prison, CPJ notes.
Meanwhile, opposition journalist Guillermo Fariñas completed his 50th day on a hunger and thirst strike this week. He is suffering medical complications but said he will continue “until the end,” AFP says (Spanish).
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
