Dissidents beaten, detained in Cuba

Havana, Feb 5 (EFE).- At least 37 dissidents were detained this week during protests in the eastern province of Camagüey in solidarity with an ailing political prisoner, the unofficial Cuban Human Rights Commission said Friday.

The commission's chairman, Elizardo Sanchez, told foreign reporters that 23 people were "brutally beaten" and arrested Wednesday after a street demonstration about the plight of Orlando Zapata Tamayo.

Another 14 dissidents were detained Thursday as they gathered in a private home for additional "actions in solidarity with Zapata Tamayo," Sanchez said.

All but five of those arrested have already been released, the rights commission said.

Zapata Tamayo is being treated at a hospital in Camagüey after mounting a hunger strike to protest mistreatment by prison authorities, the commission said.

Recognized by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience, Zapata Tamayo was arrested in 2003 and sentenced to 25 years for the offenses of resistance and disrupting public order.

Cuba's communist government is holding 201 political prisoners, according to a report released last month by Sanchez's commission.