US secures release of 135 political prisoners from Nicaragua

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

US secures release of 135 political prisoners from Nicaragua

US officials have secured the release of 135 political prisoners from Nicaragua on humanitarian grounds.

All 135 are Nicaraguan citizens who were unjustly detained, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement.

Those released were taken to Guatemala, where they arrived on Thursday morning local time, and will be given the chance to apply to move to the US.

The Nicaraguan government led by President Daniel Ortega has jailed hundreds of people since mass protests broke out against his rule in 2018.

The ******* Nations human rights office (OHCHR)

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

documenting the deterioration in Nicaragua’s human rights situation in the past year.

It described a dozen cases in which detainees were tortured through various forms of ******* ****** and electric shocks.

It found that “not only those who express dissenting opinions, but also any individual or organisation that operates independently or does not fall directly under their control” are being persecuted by the Nicaraguan authorities.

More than 5,000 non-governmental groups, private universities and civil society organisations have been closed down on government orders.

Those with links to ******* groups in particular have been targeted, with priests and pastors arbitrarily arrested, sometimes dragged away by force as they were holding Mass.

Among those freed on Thursday are ********* laypeople, students and 13 members of Texas-based evangelical organisation Mountain Gateway, the White House statement said.

This is the second time the US has secured the release of a large group of political prisoners from Nicaragua.

In February of last year,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

Rights groups have denounced the intensifying crackdown on dissent in the Central ********* nation for years.

Measures taken against those who have spoken out against Mr Ortega include stripping them of their Nicaraguan citizenship and seizing their homes and assets.

In its statement, the White House called on the Nicaraguan government to “cease the arbitrary arrest and detention of its citizens for merely exercising their fundamental freedoms”.

The Nicaraguan government has not yet commented.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#secures #release #political #prisoners #Nicaragua

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up