The Freedom House organization released a report last week entitled "The World's Most Repressive Regimes, 2003" (www.freedomhouse.org). Dubbed the "worst of the worst" are Burma, Cuba, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and Turkmenistan. Ironically, Freedom House points out, five of the 16 most repressive countries -- China, Cuba, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Syria -- are all members of the United Nations Human Rights Commission. ***
"In recent weeks the world has been reminded once again of the cruelty and deceit of Fidel Castro and his henchmen," stated Mas. "The mass arrests of peaceful dissidents, the harsh prison sentences -- up to 28 years -- imposed on human rights activists, and the summary firing squad execution of three young men seeking to flee the island demonstrate that Castro remains as committed to ruling through fear and intimidation as ever. To have provided a platform for Castro to try to whitewash his sins would have been an unforgivable insult to the thousands of men and women who suffer in his tropical gulag," added Mas.
"HBO is well known for its professional integrity and allowing an aging dictator to distort the truth and go unchallenged would not have been in keeping with that tradition," noted the CANF Chairman.[End]