{"id":29717,"date":"2023-02-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/press\/religious-leaders-among-political-prisoners-sent-to-united-states-5932\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T19:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T18:09:09","slug":"religious-leaders-among-political-prisoners-sent-to-united-states-5932","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/press\/religious-leaders-among-political-prisoners-sent-to-united-states-5932\/","title":{"rendered":"Religious leaders among political prisoners sent to United States"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Roman Catholic priests and lay leaders, and a Protestant pastor were included in a group of political prisoners sent from Nicaragua to the United States this week.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nicaraguan government announced<\/a> that 222 prisoners had been removed from prison and put on flights to the United States on the morning of 9 February. Family members of the deported political prisoners were reportedly not informed in advance of the move. Nicaragua\u2019s President Daniel Ortega subsequently declared that all 222 of those released are no longer Nicaraguans and have been stripped of their citizenship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to an official list released by the government, included in the group were Father Ramiro Tijerino, Father Sadiel Eugarrios, Father Ra\u00fal Gonz\u00e1lez, Father Jos\u00e9 Luis D\u00edaz, seminarians Darvin Leiva and Melkin Sequeira, and cameraman Sergio C\u00e1rdenas, who were \u88ab\u6263\u7559<\/a> in August 2022 after Nicaraguan security forces stormed the Diocese of Matagalpa curia where the seven men had been forcibly confined along with Bishop Rolando \u00c1lvarez Lagos and four others for 15 days. The men (featured image<\/i>) had been found guilty<\/a> of conspiracy against the state in January 2023 and were awaiting sentencing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bishop \u00c1lvarez Lagos was not among those listed by the government and CSW received reports that he had refused to leave Nicaragua, despite pressure on him by the government to do so. President Ortega later announced that the bishop has been transferred from house arrest to La Modelo Tipitapa prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two other priests, Father Oscar Danilo Benavidez D\u00e1vila and Father Enrique Mart\u00ednez Gamboa were listed among the deported prisoners. Father Oscar Danilo Benavidez D\u00e1vila was found guilty of the crimes of conspiracy, undermining national integrity, and the propagation of fake news on 16 January and was sentenced to a cumulative eight years in prison. Father Mart\u00ednez Gamboa was violently detained on 13 October 2022, accused of damaging the integrity of the nation and propagation of fake news. and has been held since then in El Chipote Prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protestant Pastor Wilber Alberto P\u00e9rez was also listed as among the group sent to the US. Pastor P\u00e9rez was arbitrarily detained on 15 December 2020 for promoting the \u2018Christmas without Political Prisoners\u2019 campaign. He was falsely convicted of selling illegal drugs. In March 2021, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison and, according to CSW sources, was held in solitary confinement in a \u2018punishment cell\u2019 with no natural light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two additional Roman Catholic priests, Father Manuel Salvador Garc\u00eda and Father Leonardo Urbina Rodr\u00edguez, did not appear on the list released by the Nicaraguan government and apparently remain imprisoned in Nicaragua.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSW\u2019s Head of Advocacy Anna Lee Stangl\u202fsaid: \u2018We welcome the good news of the release of 222 men and women who never should have been imprisoned in the first place. CSW appreciates the work of the US to open a legal and safe channel for all of them to leave Nicaragua, however, we note that the choice reportedly offered to these individuals by the Nicaraguan government of remaining in prison in inhumane conditions or going into forced exile is one no one should ever be forced to make. Furthermore, President Ortega\u2019s declaration that those who were flown to the US this week have been stripped of their citizenship contravenes international law. We urge the international community to hold the Nicaraguan government to account for its continued efforts to eliminate independent civil society and critical voices and its attacks on fundamental human rights including freedom or religion or belief and not to forget those who remain political prisoners in Nicaragua including Bishop Rolando<\/i><\/b>\u00c1lvarez Lagos.\u2019<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notes to Editors:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n

  1. Bishop \u00c1lvarez Lagos was initially put under house arrest in a property belonging to his relatives, however, in December he was moved to a house administered by the government.<\/p><\/li>\n\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      \n\n

    1. The right to a nationality is protected under a number of international legal instruments, including Article 15 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that \u2018Everyone has the right to a nationality. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality,\u2019 the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Nationality of Married Women, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.<\/p><\/li>\n\n<\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Roman Catholic priests and lay leaders, and a Protestant pastor were included in a group of political prisoners sent from Nicaragua to the United States this week.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":43853,"template":"","categories":[],"regions":[137,142],"class_list":["post-29717","press","type-press","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-latin-america","regions-nicaragua"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40301,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29717\/revisions\/40301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29717"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=29717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}