Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

One of the five could end up spending the rest of his life in jail. That is very serious. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights, various international human rights groups, trade unions, legal experts, Nobel prize winners, religious organisations, members of parliament in various countries and Amnesty International feel that there is a terrible injustice here.

A commission of inquiry into this issue was held last March in London. It included former chief justices from India, South Africa and France. Its findings were:

1. There are serious concerns about whether any of these people have had the full benefit of the fundamental human right to a fair and speedy trial ... a.all five Cuban nationals were placed in solitary confinement for about seventeen months before the trial began;

c.[they did not have] the opportunity to consult with their legal representatives ...

The trial was held in a part of Miami where, according to three of the judges in the United States Court of Appeals “a fair trial could not be guaranteed”. The report continues: “ ...these five human beings were certain of their fate only eight years after the trial in the District Court had been concluded.”

There are grounds to ask President Obama to issue a pardon before he leaves office. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Gilmore, supported this cause when he was in opposition. I ask him to request this pardon.

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