Raul Castro may have taken over Cuba from his doddering brother Fidel but, when it comes to religious rights for prisoners of conscience, little has changed.

In its report Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) concludes that prison authorities "regularly deny political prisoners the right to religious literature including Bibles" and, "The right to meet with a pastor or priest or to meet together with other prisoners for religious study, prayer or worship."
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CSW told BosNewsLife that its report is partly based on eight months of interviews with families of prisoners and former detainees. The report also highlights individual cases, including that of Christian Alfredo Rodolfo Domínguez Batista who is serving a fourteen-year sentence in the Holguín Provincial Prison on charges that include "harming the independence of the Cuban state or its territorial integrity" in the interest of a foreign state.

Domínguez Batista’s wife was quoted as saying that his Bible and all religious materials were confiscated in the summer of 2007 and have yet to be returned.  "He has also had to repeatedly request access to a priest, a right which has only been granted every four to six months and most recently was denied outright," CSW said.

The CSW report accuses Cuban authorities of attempting to manipulate prisoners by denying pastoral visits and other religious practices in contravention of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.