Cuban exile and journalism watchdog groups are seeking the release of 22 Cuban political prisoners, including one who recently sewed his lips shut to protest his treatment.
The wife of a fellow prisoner told other dissidents and the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists that independent journalist Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta sewed his own lips together in mid July. The CPJ said Friday the Cuban government considers the 42-year-old a counterrevolutionary in the services of the U.S.
Herrera is serving a 20 year sentence and is among 22 independent journalists held since 2003.
His hunger strike started July 12 and ended around July 30 when he was taken to a prison hospital. It was unclear when or how the stitches were removed.
