By Michael IsikoffNBC News(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/121210-AlanGross-vsmall.380;380;7;70;0.jpg) / American Alan Gross, a 63-year-old U.S. government subcontractor from Montgomery County, Md., has been in prison in Cuba since late 2009. A United Nations panel has called on Cuba to immediately release jailed American contractor Alan Gross after finding that his detention was “arbitrary” and violated international human-rights standards, according to a report obtained by NBC News.
The 16- page decision by the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which has not yet been publicly released, is a victory for the legal team working to free Gross, a State Department contractor who was arrested three years ago for allegedly smuggling sophisticated satellite equipment to Cuba’s tiny Jewish community.
The Cuban Foreign Ministry dismissed the findings as a result of “pressures exerted by the United States” and vigorously defended its detention of the 63-year-old American. Gross “was sentenced for committing acts against Cuba’s national security and public order, not for promoting freedom,” the ministry said in a statement also obtained by NBC News. A Cuban official said that the working group reached its findings without visiting Cuba or interviewing Gross. The official also noted that the same U.N. panel has in the past criticized as “arbitrary” the detention of five Cuban agents prosecuted in the U.S. on espionage related charges.
NBCNews