Leading Cuban Dissident Ordered to Serve 4 Year Prison Sentence

HAVANA - Cuba has revoked the right to home detention of leading dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer and ordered him to serve the remaining 4 years of a sentence for assault in prison, sparking criticism that the order was politically motivated.

Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, one of the Communist-run country’s largest and most active opposition groups, was arrested in October 2019 on charges of abducting and assaulting a man. He denied the charges but was convicted in February 2020, with his 4 1/2 year prison sentence commuted to house arrest two months later under international pressure. At the time, Cuba called Ferrer a U.S.-financed counter-revolutionary but said he was not arrested for his political views. Critics said the government invents common crimes to impute to its opponents that it can silence them while claiming not to have political prisoners.