The Miami Five should be pardoned and the three Cubans remaining in US prisons should be immediately freed according to a new publication which contains the opinion of three of the world’s most distinguished judges. 

Their judgement followed two days of intense examination of the evidence at the highly successful international inquiry into the case of the Cuban Five held in London in March. 

According to René González, the first of the Miami Five to be released, this recently published report will be invaluable in advancing the growing international campaign for justice for the Five.

The Miami Five were arrested 16 years ago on conspiracy-related charges arising from their activity in monitoring Miami-based terrorist groups whose terrorist actions against Cuba have resulted in nearly 3,500 deaths since 1959. 

When the information the Five gathered was passed to the FBI in 1998, it was they who were arrested and given harsh prison sentences, while the perpetrators remained free on Miami streets.

The report was launched simultaneously in both London and Havana as events were staged around the world to mark the 16th anniversary of the arrest of the Miami Five on September 12. 

A packed House of Commons meeting co-hosted by Jeremy Corbyn MP and Baroness Angela Smith attracted campaigners, diplomats, parliamentarians, celebrities and lawyers. 

René González was due to address the meeting but following the initial refusal of the British government to allow him entry into Britain to testify at the commission in March, he was again denied a visa, despite an invitation from 29 MPs. Participants at the launch meetings undertook to campaign to pressurise the British government to reverse the visa ban. 

People were shocked to learn that France, Portugal, Spain and Belgium have all granted visas to González.

Olga Salaneuva, the wife of René, who addressed the House of Commons meeting, stated that “the government of the United States has colluded with the courts to violate US law.” 

She added: “Key charges were never proved and yet three very long sentences were handed down in what we can show are political cases.” 

The report was presented to the meeting by Professor Sara Chandler, one of the commission coordinators and chair of the human rights committee of the Law Society. 

She went through the key elements of the report highlighting the illegal detention, the unjust trial, human rights abuses, witness testimonies and the detailed legal findings of the commissioners. 

She called on people to visit the website www.voicesforthefive.com, the campaigning hub that co-ordinated the commission of inquiry which regularly posts updates on the case.

In Havana, the report was presented to the Tenth International Symposium of Solidarity with the Cuban Five, attended by some 300 delegates from 50 countries. The official film of the Commission, Justice in London, was shown, and Cuba Solidarity Campaign director Rob Miller updated delegates on the latest visa denials.

“It is frankly an outrage that by denying René González the visa to visit Britain our own government involves itself in this ongoing injustice perpetrated against the Five,” he said. 

“The fact that the commission of inquiry itself was a legal exploration of the circumstances surrounding the arrest and convictions of the five, and that the principal witness to that inquiry was himself banned from attending because of the unfair conviction, is an absurdity that cannot be in the public interest or in the interest of truth and justice.”

In a 44-page magazine format, written in English and Spanish, the success of the commission and its associated events is recorded in the report. 

It presents in full the concluding statements of the three presiding judges Yogesh Sabharwal, Zak Yacoob and Phillippe Texier, who called upon President Barack Obama to grant “unconditional pardons” to the five and to release “immediately and unconditionally” the three who remain in prison.

The report also records highlights from the commission proceedings with special mention made of the testimony from Angela Wright of Amnesty International, which focused on the unfairness of the trial and, recognising the urgency of the case, pledged to continue to appeal for justice.

The report is illustrated with numerous photographs bringing to mind the intensity of these days of concerted activity — from the concert and dramatic readings performed at London’s Barbican Centre in front of an audience of 2,000 and an exhibition of the paintings of Miami Five prisoner Antonio Guerrero. 

Also featured are words from special guests such as novelist Alice Walker, Cuban Five family members and former US attorney general Ramsay Clarke.

The success of the commission would not have been possible without the broad support it enjoyed, more than evident in a list of the internationally renowned personalities drawn from many countries who endorsed this initiative, including actor Emma Thompson, former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, fashion designer Vivienne Westwood and writers such as John Le Carré and Günther Grass.

Nor would the commission have been so successful without the broad sponsorship from trade unions, law firms, funding organisations and other groups and individuals.

The report and full testimonies of all the witnesses are available at the website Voices for the Five which organised the Commission of Inquiry: www.voicesforthefive.com/commission.

If you would like a copy of the report posted to you please contact www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk or telephone 0207 490-5715.

Dodie Weppler-Crogan is co-ordinator of Voices for the Five.