Amnesty International issued a statement calling on...

Amnesty International issued a statement calling on the Cuban government to release what it called "prisoners of conscience." The group said most of the dissidents were detained for peacefully expressing their beliefs, and that their arrests violated international human rights standards. The dissidents were rounded up in March 2003 and later convicted of working with US officials to undermine President Fidel Castro's government. Both the activists and Washington had denied the charges. The crackdown came amid a number of plane and boat hijackings from Cuba to the United States. During the same period, the Cuban government executed three men arrested in an unsuccessful armed hijacking of a passenger ferry. The crackdown and executions were condemned by governments and rights groups around the world.