Omar Moisés Ruiz Hernández (born November 16, 1947) is a

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

declared him as an international

prisoner of conscience A prisoner of conscience (POC) is anyone imprisoned because of their race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views. The term also refers to those who have been imprisoned or persecuted for the nonviolent expression of their conscienti ...

after he was imprisoned in 2003 during a crackdown on dissidents. He worked for dissident press agency Grupo de Trabajo Decoro (Decoro Working Group) before sentenced to 18 years in prison. He has been vice delegate of the unofficial Partido Solidaridad Democrática (Democratic Solidarity Party) in Villa Clara. He is an Honorary Member of Swedish PEN Centre. He is believed to have endured maltreatment such as

solitary confinement Solitary confinement (also shortened to solitary) is a form of imprisonment in which an incarcerated person lives in a single Prison cell, cell with little or no contact with other people. It is a punitive tool used within the prison system to ...

, being held in punishment cells and harassment. The

Inter American Press Association The Inter American Press Association (IAPA; Spanish: ''Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa'', SIP) is a press advocacy group representing major media organizations in North America, South America and the Caribbean. It is made up of more than 1,300 ...

reported in 2007 that he had

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

and a chronic parasitic infection, and weighed only 45 kilograms (about 100 pounds).

External links

Profile
at Payolibre.com
Profile
at Directorio.org
International PEN campaign

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruiz Hernandez, Omar 1947 births Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Cuba Cuban democracy activists Cuban dissidents Cuban journalists Cuban male journalists Living people Cuban prisoners and detainees Black Spring detainees