Héctor Maseda, after his release from prison Saturday.
A day after he refused to be released from prison, Cuban independent journalist Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez today was escorted from jail to his home in Havana.
"The government, the officers, told him that he had to leave now," human rights leader Elizardo Sanchez told AFP.
Maseda, who has been imprisoned since the "black spring" of 2003, was one of nine prisoners of conscience still in jail despite being included in a group covered by a July 2010 deal between Spain, the Catholic Church and the Castro dictatorship for their release.
Maseda and the others had refused to accept forced exile to Spain as a condition of their release — an intransigience Maseda had maintained on Friday after the church announced that he and another prisoner, Eduardo Díaz, would be released.
Díaz left prison, but Maseda insisted that there be no conditions placed on his parole and that seriously ill prisoners, including Díaz and two others, be released first.
This is a great day for Maseda and his family, including wife Laura Pollan, a leader of the Damas De Blanco.
But remember and demand the release of the other eight prisoners of conscience still in jail and all Cuban political prisoners.
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A day after his release, Díaz took to the streets of his hometown to enjoy his freedom.
"I will continue my work for human rights and a genuine and authentic democracy, because I have always dones that," Díaz said. "I will not abandon this struggle that has defined me."
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