A bipartisan group of US lawmakers, led by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) have petitioned the Norwegian Nobel Committee to select jailed human rights activist Dr. Oscar Biscet for the Nobel Peace Prize. Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and Albio Sires cosigned a letter with Smith and sent it to the Committee on January 31.
A bipartisan group of US lawmakers, led by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) have petitioned the Norwegian Nobel Committee to select jailed human rights activist Dr. Oscar Biscet for the Nobel Peace Prize. Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and Albio Sires cosigned a letter with Smith and sent it to the Committee on January 31.
“Dr. Biscet has devoted his life to the promotion of human rights in Cuba. He is truly one of the great heroes of freedom in the world today. This brave doctor boldly dared to challenge Castro’s authoritarian rule, and he has paid a terrible price. Yet, Dr. Biscet does not give up, continuing to preach non-violence and benevolence,” said Smith who has previously spoke on the House floor to demand the release of Dr. Biscet and other unjustly jailed pro-democracy Cuban activists.
Biscet, who is trained as a physician, began to protest human rights violations in Cuba in the 1980s. In 1997, he founded the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights in collaboration with fellow members of the peaceful opposition movement and was arrested in 1999 and sentenced to three years in prison. Dr. Biscet was released in November 2002, but was arrested again a month later after he dared to meet with an American diplomat stationed in Cuba. He was then sentenced to 25 years in prison where he remains today. In recognition of his advocacy efforts for human rights and democracy in Cuba, Dr. Biscet was awarded the esteemed President Medal of Freedom by U.S. President George W. Bush in 2007.
In their letter to the Nobel Commission, the US lawmakers said:
“The qualification for the Nobel Peace Prize have grown to include witnesses to, and victims of injustice – people who have responded to wrongs with a steadfast commitment to non-violence. It is in this spirit that we, the undersigned members of the United States House of Representatives, hereby nominate for the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. Oscar Biscet, the heroic prisoner of conscience unjustly imprisoned in Cuba.” Along with Dr. Biscet, the letter also nominates the more than 60 other prisoners of conscience unjustly imprisoned in Cuba for their promotion of democracy and human rights.
Specifically about Biscet they said,
“The regime’s abuse of Dr. Biscet has been horrific. He has endured solitary confinement for refusing to wear a prisoner’s uniform. He has lived with insufficient light or no light at all, no running water and no bed. He has spoken out and tried to lend a hand to other prisoner who are being mistreated, and for that has spent time in a “special” cell known as the dungeon. To try to break his will—or worse—his captors have housed Biscet with violent criminals. But throughout his ordeal, this long-time human rights activist and doctor has espoused non-violence, and has called forth the memory of personal heroes such as Mahatma Ghandi and 1964 Laureate Martin Luther King, Jr.”
Back in 2002, Smith launched the Congressional Cuban Political Prisoners Initiative in which members of Congress adopted 12 political prisoners, one of whom was Dr. Biscet, to highlight the plight of the political prisoners in Cuba.
“These brave Cubans are languishing in Castro’s Gulags. Their only crime is their love of freedom. They deserve to be set free,” said Smith.
The letter continues,
“We ask that the Norwegian Nobel Committee stand with Dr. Biscet and these Cuban prisoners of conscience, recognizing their heroic example. A recognition of their peaceful stance in the face of unjust suffering would inspire the world, and call attention to their plight.”
The Nobel Peace Prize—named after Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel—is one of five Nobel Prizes. The Peace Prize is awarded annually and selected by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Past Laureates include Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Theresa, Elie Wiesel, and Nelson Mandela and most recently Al Gore.