Abdulrahman Odeh - North America
Abdulrahman Odeh is part of the Holy Land Five,
Muslim activists targeted during the Bush
Administration in their attack on Muslim activists
after September 11th. You can learn more about
the campaign to free the five at
http://freedomtogive.com.
ABDULRAHMAN ODEH
#26548-050
FCI VICTORVILLE MEDIUM II
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
PO BOX 5300
ADELANTO, CA 92301
David McKay - North America
In September of 2008, David Guy McKay was
entrapped by an FBI informant at the
Republican National Convention for allegedly
possessing incendiary devices. He was 22
years old. To join the campaign to free David
visit www.freethetexas2.org
DAVID McKAY #14130-041
FCI HERLONG
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
P.O. BOX 800
HERLONG, CA 96113
Gerardo Hernandez - North America
Gerardo Hernández Nordelo is part of the Cuban
Five and is serving two life terms plus 15 years.
Personal Background
He was born in Havana on June 4, 1965. In 1989
he graduated with a degree in International
Political Relations. While in school he participated
in amateur festivals as part of a theater group and
also as a cartoonist-humorist. In 1989 Hernández
served as part of the Cuban forces in Angola
against the invading South African apartheid
regime. He distinguished himself in 54 combat
missions and was awarded a medal of honor.
Hernández has had his drawings published since
1982 and displayed in gallery exhibitions. His
book of caricatures and humor, “You Can Achieve
Everything with Love and Humor” was published
in 2002. He has been married since 1988 to
Adriana Pérez O’Connor.
For more than 40 years, anti-Cuba terrorist
organizations based in Miami engaged in
countless terrorist activities against Cuba, and
against anyone who advocates a normalization of
relations between the U.S. and Cuba. More than
3,000 Cubans have died as a result of these
terrorists’ attacks.
Terrorist Miami groups like Comandos F4 and
Brothers to the Rescue operate with complete
impunity from within the United States to attack
Cuba—with the knowledge and support of the FBI
and CIA.
Therefore, Cuba made the careful and necessary
decision to send Gerardo along with four other
Cubans to Miami to monitor the terrorists. The
Cuban Five infiltrated the terrorist organizations in
Miami to inform Cuba of imminent attacks.
The aim of such a clandestine operation by the
Cuban Five—at great personal risk—was
toprevent criminal acts, and thus protect the lives
of Cubans and other people.
But instead of arresting the terrorists, the FBI
arrested the Cuban Five ANTI-terrorists on
September 12, 1998.
Legal Case
The trial began in November 2000. With the
seven-month trial based in Miami, a virtual
witchhunt atmosphere existed. Defense
attorneys’ motions for a change of venue were
denied five times by the judge, although it was
obvious that a fair trial was impossible
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in that city. In a blow to justice, the Cuban
Five were convicted June 8, 2001 and
sentenced to four life terms and 75 years in
December, 2001.
Appeals Victory and then Surprising Reversal
On August 9, 2005, after seven years of
unjust imprisonment, the Cuban Five won an
unprecedented victory on appeal. A three-
judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of
Appeals overturned the convictions of the
Cuban Five and ordered a new trial outside
of Miami.
However, in an unexpected reversal on Oct.
31, the 11th Circuit Court vacated the three-
judge panel’s ruling and granted an “en
banc” hearing before the full panel of 12
judges. Exactly one year after the victory that
granted the Five a new trial, the panel voted
10 to 2 to deny the Five heroes a new trial,
and instead affirmed the trial court.
Nine remaining issues of appeal are before
the three-judge panel (it is actually two
judges now, one has retired), and as of
December 2006, final supplemental
documents were submitted by defense and
prosecution. For an explanation of the legal
issues, read the Nov. 21 interview with
Leonard Weinglass here.
Recently, it also came out that the US
government has covertly paid tens of
thousands of dollars to Miami journalists
working for major media outlets who, during
the federal government’s politically-charged
Miami prosecution, published often
incendiary stories about Cuba and the five
Cubans.
Life in Prison
Initially, the Cuban Five were illegally held in
solitary confinement for 17 months in Miami
jail. His wife has been denied entry to the
United States by U.S. authorities seven times
and has not been able to see her husband in
more than ten years.
Challenging His Sentence and Conviction
Gerardo is currently appealing his conviction
and life sentence. First, he is challenging his
conviction, which is conspiracy to kill. The
charge relates to Cuba’s shootdown of two
BTTR planes. The evidence is overwhelming
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that Hernandez had nothing to do with the
shootdown and that Cuba’s intention to address
unlawful overflights of its territory was consistent
resulted from serious errors by his attorney as
well as the government’s failure to disclose
important evidence.
Second, the trial – held in Miami, the U.S. city
that is the most hostile to the Cuban government
– was fundamentally unfair because the jury pool
was tainted by U.S.-funded propaganda.
Support
Many people have spoken out in support of
Gerardo and the rest of the Cuban Five. Their
2001 trial is the only U.S. criminal proceeding to
be condemned by the U.N.Human Rights
Commission. Celebrities such as Danny Glover
have come forward in protest of the five being
locked up.
Important declarations have been made by
hundreds of parliamentarians in Britain, Italy, and
the European and Latin American Parliaments.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions,
with five judges, ruled that there were
irregularities in the Five’s trial and arrest,
effectively denying them a fair trial and calls on
the U.S. government to remedy this injustice.
* Support Site- www.freethefive.org
Gerardo Hernandez
#58739-004
U.S.P. Victorville
P.O. Box 5300
Adelanto, CA 92301
that Hernandez had nothing to do with the
shootdown and that Cuba’s intention to address
unlawful overflights of its territory was consistent
resulted from serious errors by his attorney as
well as the government’s failure to disclose
important evidence.
Second, the trial – held in Miami, the U.S. city
that is the most hostile to the Cuban government
– was fundamentally unfair because the jury pool
was tainted by U.S.-funded propaganda.
Support
Many people have spoken out in support of
Gerardo and the rest of the Cuban Five. Their
2001 trial is the only U.S. criminal proceeding to
be condemned by the U.N.Human Rights
Commission. Celebrities such as Danny Glover
have come forward in protest of the five being
locked up.
Important declarations have been made by
hundreds of parliamentarians in Britain, Italy, and
the European and Latin American Parliaments.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions,
with five judges, ruled that there were
irregularities in the Five’s trial and arrest,
effectively denying them a fair trial and calls on
the U.S. government to remedy this injustice.
* Support Site- www.freethefive.org
Gerardo Hernandez
#58739-004
U.S.P. Victorville
P.O. Box 5300
Adelanto, CA 92301
Eric McDavid - North America
supporteric.org
Eric was arrested on January 13, 2006 and
charged with conspiracy to destroy property
by means of fire or explosives . His arrest
was the direct result of a government was
paid over $75,000 to spy on and entrap Eric.
The two others (Laura Wiener and Zachary
Jensen) arrested with Eric both Eric. He
spent almost two years in total separation
(isolation) until after his trial. He has
engaged in numerous hunger strikes to
demand vegan food. He was sentenced on
demand vegan food. He was sentenced on
September 27 2007 to 20 years in prison for
September 27 2007 to 20 years in prison for
a crime that was never committed.
Eric McDavid #16209-097
FCI Victorville, Medium II
P.O. Box 5300
Adelanto, CA 92301