Cuban journalist 'ready to die' for web access

A Cuban journalist is said to be on the point of death after a 10-day hunger strike in protest at restrictions to the island's internet services.

Guillermo Fariñas, director of the Cubanacán Press news agency, claims to have written to Cuban leader Fidel Castro demanding that the internet be made available to all Cubans and that journalists be allowed to report freely to the public.

Internet access in Cuba is restricted to users that are authorised by the government, and content is also censored.

Mr Fariñas' campaign is being supported by press freedom group Reporters Sans Frontières, which reports that Mr Fariñas is 'ready to die' for his cause.

"I want assaults on independent journalists to stop," he told the group.

"I want all Cubans to be allowed access to the internet, if the government can do as it said at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis in December, and give it to them.

"I am ready to die. Fidel knows my position."

For its part, Cuba's official government newspaper Granma claims that the US government uses RSF reports in its propaganda war against Cuba.

Granma this week accused RSF of colluding with the US government for failing to report on the plight of Al-Jazeera journalist Sami al Haji, currently held at the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay.

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