Cuban court upholds sentence for jailed American (Reuters)

HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba’s Supreme Court upheld the conviction and 15-year prison sentence of jailed American aid contractor Alan Gross, the Cuban government said on Friday, in the latest blow to U.S.-Cuba relations.

Gross, 62, has been imprisoned for 20 months, and in March was found guilty of bringing Internet communications equipment into Cuba under a controversial U.S. program promoting political change on the communist-led island.

The court, after a hearing an appeal from Gross on July 22, said it had been shown in his trial that he illegally brought the equipment into Cuba to create Internet networks.

It rejected his arguments that he intended no harm toward Cuba and was only trying to bring Internet to the island’s small Jewish community.

Gross had received “all the guarantees and rights” accorded under the Cuban constitution, said the statement published on a government web. It said he had received “respectful and humane” treatment during his imprisonment.

Gross was working for a secretive U.S. pro-democracy program trying to spread Internet availability, which is restricted by the Cuban government.

Cuba views the program as part of long-standing U.S. efforts to subvert the island’s communist government and considers the Internet one of new battlegrounds in the two countries’ half-century old ideological conflict.

Gross was taken into custody on December 3, 2009, and has been imprisoned ever since.

The case has brought U.S.-Cuba relations to a standstill after a brief warming under U.S. President Barack Obama, who eased U.S. travel restrictions to Cuba and allowed a free flow of remittances to the island.

The United States has demanded his immediate release, while wife Judy Gross has pleaded that he be freed for humanitarian reasons.

Their daughter and his elderly mother are battling cancer and Gross is suffering health problems that have contributed to his losing 100 pounds (45 kg) in jail.

In a statement from Washington, where Gross’ family lives, his attorney Peter Kahn said the court’s decision was disappointing but not surprising. He requested a diplomatic solution and that Cuban President Raul Castro release Gross.

“Alan and his entire family have paid an enormous personal price in the long-standing political feud between Cuba and the United States,” Kahn said.

“We call upon the two countries to resolve their dispute over Alan’s activities diplomatically and request that President Raul Castro release Alan immediately on humanitarian grounds.”

The Cuban government has given no hint that Gross would be leaving jail anytime soon.

Cuba has its own beef with justice in the United States, which it says has unfairly imprisoned five Cuban agents since 1998 on spying-related convictions.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

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