SHOTLIST:

Havana - 12 September, 2007

1. Cuba's Minister of Culture Abel Prieto and book editors at conference room in International Press Centre:

2. Close up, book on table

3. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Abel Prieto, Cuban Minister of Culture:

"It is truly unacceptable that a case of violation of elemental justice should be hidden from North American public opinion as well as much of the public opinion of the world. This is because the large media companies that form opinions and tell people what they should be concerned with, do not pay attention to this case and to this process and do not reflect it."

5. Audience

6. Close up, relatives of the Cuban Five

7. Close up box with new books

8. People receiving book

FILE - February, 2007

Havana

9. Various of roadside billboard with pictures of the Cuban Five and slogan (Spanish) "Freedom Now"

10. Various of book covers with pictures of the Cuban Five (MUTE)

Washington, DC - 12 September, 2007

11. Attorney for the five Cubans, Leonard Weinglass walking to podium

12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Leonard Weinglass, Attorney for the Cuban Five:

"This, like the Pentagon Papers trial, is a case that reveals the untold story of the low intensity war, which Danny Glover referred to (in a video introduction) emanating from these shores against the country that is 90 miles away. A war that has lasted for more than 4 decades and of which the American public knows virtually nothing."

13. Audience

14. Reverse shot of Weinglass speaking

15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Leonard Weinglass, Attorney for the Cuban Five:

"Cuba protested each and everyone of those acts, it was introduced into evidence in the trial with the Five. The US did nothing. Cuba went to the UN and asked the UN to pass a resolution against terrorism, years before 9/11... It is still on the agenda of the UN. They haven't acted on it. And when finally nothing else would work, Cuba sent these five men to the United States."

FILE - February 2007

Havana

16. Olga Salanueva, wife of Rene Gonzalez (one of the Cuban Five) and daughter Ivette Gonzalez

17. Medium of the two looking at pictures

18. Medium of Rene Gonzalez in photograph with his daughters/pull out to medium

19. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Olga Salanueva, wife of Rene Gonzalez:

"I did not request a visa to reside in the United States. I know this is not possible anymore, plus we want to live in Cuba when he comes back when he is freed. But I think it is my right to visit him. It is the right of every prisoner to receive the visit of his wife, of his family. The family that we created together. "

20. Pan of billboard with names of Cuban Five

21. Medium of billboard (Spanish) reading "They Will Return"

STORYLINE:

Cuba's culture minister Abel Prieto appealed to world opinion on Wednesday to take up the case of five Cubans convicted on espionage charges in the US.

He called a news conference in Havana on Wednesday to launch a new book on the case of the Cuban Five, celebrated in their home country but little known in the rest of the world.

Fidel Castro's government sent Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez to South Florida to gather information about anti-communist exile groups and send it back to the island using encrypted software, high-frequency radio transmissions and coded electronic phone messages.

Leonard Weinglass, attorney for the Five told a student audience in Washington DC that it followed terrorist attacks by anti-Castro Cuban exiles:

"Cuba protested each and everyone of those acts. The US did nothing. Cuba went to the UN and asked the UN to pass a resolution against terrorism, years before 9/11... It is still on the agenda of the UN. They haven't acted on it. And when finally nothing else would work, Cuba sent these five men to the United States", he said.

The book, compiled with writings from 17 Cuban authors with an epilogue by the President of Cuba's National Parliament, reveals what Weinglass called "the untold story of the low intensity war...emanating from these shores against the country that is 90 miles (140 kilometres) away."

Weinglass said the unfair treatment received by the Cuban Five in the United States' judicial system is part of "a war that is lasted more than four decades and of which the American public knows virtually nothing."

"It is truly unacceptable that a case of violation of elemental justice should be hidden from North American public opinion as well as much of the public opinion of the world", said Prieto during Wednesday's press conference.

Weinglass said the five men were trying to gather information that might prevent exile groups from waging more attacks, such as the bombings at Havana hotels that killed an Italian tourist in 1997.

The five were convicted of being unregistered foreign agents and three were found guilty of espionage conspiracy for failed efforts to obtain military secrets.

Hernandez was also convicted of murder conspiracy in the deaths of four Miami-based pilots whose small, private planes were shot down in February 1996 by a Cuban MiG in international waters off Cuba's northern coast.

They were sentenced to terms ranging from 10 years to life in December 2001, but the case has ping-ponged through the court system the last six years due to a round of appeals.

In August 2005, a three-judge panel of the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta tossed out the verdicts, saying the five didn't receive a fair trial because of anti-Castro bias in Miami. But the convictions were reinstated exactly a year later by the full 11th Circuit.

Among the allegations of unfair treatment cited by the defence and various organisations that support their release, is the refusal to grant visas to the wives of two of the detained Cubans to visit their husbands during the nine years they have spent behind bars.

The US has denied visitor's visas to the wives of Rene Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez.

In February, Olga Salanueva, wife of Rene Gonzalez told AP Television "it is the right of every prisoner to receive a visit from his wife, of his family, the family that we created together."

"I think it is my right to visit him," she added

Although the five men's so-called "Wasp Network" spy ring recovered no US secrets, federal prosecutors argued for stiff penalties, saying they were well-trained spies who ran foul of federal law by failing to inform the government of their presence.

While serving their sentences, the men have become celebrities in their homeland. As Castro celebrated his 81st birthday last month, messages that the five hope to "celebrate all those future anniversaries together in our beautiful fatherland" were published in the Communist party newspaper.

The agents are currently seeking a new trial that they hope will overturn their prison sentences, which range from 15 years to life.

The book entitled "From the Loneliness and the Hope", (Spanish : "Desde La Soledad y La Esperanza") is accompanied by a music CD with compositions from ten Cuban musicians and composers.

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide shot of families and activists holding news conference outside US Supreme Court

2. Cutaway of press

3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Azmat Begg, Father of Guantanamo Bay detainee:

"In one letter, he wrote 'I do not know what crime I am supposed to have committed for which not only I, but my wife and children continuously suffer. As a result, I'm in a state of depression and beginning to lose the fight against depression and hopelessness."

4. Wide shot of Azmat Begg speaking

AP Photos - No Access Canada

5. Still photo of detainee Moazzam Begg

6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Azmat Begg, Father of Guantanamo Bay detainee:

"He has been held captive for more than two years and in all this time he has never been charged and tried. I do not ask for mercy, I ask for justice. Before mercy comes justice and my son has been denied justice."

7. Cutaway of press at news conference

AP Photos - No Access Canada

8. Still photo of detainee Murat Kurnaz

9. SOUNDBITE: (German) Rabiye Kurnaz, Mother of Guantanamo Bay detainee:

"I want due process and justice for him and I want to see him. If it was possible, I'd want to bring him home, but I know that's not possible. I know he's not doing well. The way they're treating the detainees is against humanity."

10. Cutaway of cameras

11. Wide shot of Terry Waite speaking at podium in front of Supreme Court

12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Terry Waite, Former Hostage in Lebanon:

"We are here today because we believe there has been a major breech of human rights. Perhaps it was done with good intentions, but the consequences will be disastrous, disastrous for the United States and disastrous for all our freedoms."

13. Cutaway of cameras

14. SOUNDBITE: (English) Vanessa Redgrave, Actress, Founder of Guantanamo Human Rights Commission:

"You must have international human rights law and national law in which those international human rights are embodied. And that's why we're here, because this has been denied to the detainees, both in Guantanamo and other places that we've heard about like the British-American base of Diego Garcia. If there are no rights, then what do you have? Some call it an interrogation camp. I'm afraid I have to say I consider it to be a concentration camp."

15. Wide shot of families and press in front of the Supreme Court

16. Family members of detainees walking towards the White House

17. Shot of the White House

18. Azmat Begg standing with other family members outside the White House

19. Rabiye Kurnaz walking in front of the White House with religious leader

STORYLINE:

Family members of some of the detainees being held at US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay were in Washington on Monday seeking what they say are the basic rights their relatives are being denied.

The European family members of three terror suspects held at the Navy base in Cuba urged President Bush to release the prisoners for trial in their home countries, saying the indefinite detainment is taking a toll on their mental health.

At a press conference in front of the US Supreme Court, Azmat Begg read a letter from his son, Moazzam Begg, one of the estimated 640 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

In the letter, Moazzam Begg says he has never been told of the crime for which he is being held. And he described his detention as being "kept like an animal in a cell" with little sleep and no information.

Azmat Begg, who came from England to pursue due process rights for his son, has written a letter to President Bush in which he pleads for justice, not for mercy.

Like Begg, Rabiye Kurnaz said she's also worried about the health and mental state of her son, who has been held at Guantanamo for more than two years.

Kurnaz, who lives in Germany, said she hasn't spoken with her son since he has been detained. But she fears, he is not doing well.

Human rights organizations have called on the United States to release the prisoners or at least say what is planned for them.

The groups say that the indefinite detentions have led to a deterioration in mental health and dozens of suicide attempts at the prison, set up shortly after the start of the war in Afghanistan in October 2001.

Terry Waite, a Briton who was held hostage in Lebanon for nearly five years in the 80's, said what the US government is doing in Cuba is similar to the injustice of his detention nearly two decades ago. And he called the situation "a major breech of human rights."

The delegation of families was led by the Guantanamo Human Rights Commission, founded by actors Corin and Vanessa Redgrave.

The group plans to hold a wide range of meetings with human right campaigners and faith leaders in Washington and New York.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments next month from lawyers representing foreign "enemy combatants" who are being held incommunicado at the military prison.

At issue is whether the prisoners may challenge their detention in US courts.

Administration officials have said they have wide legal latitude to interrogate the detainees for extended period since national security is at risk.

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide shot of families and activists holding news conference outside US Supreme Court

2. Cutaway of press

3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Azmat Begg, father of Guantanamo Bay detainee:

"In one letter, he wrote 'I do not know what crime I am supposed to have committed for which not only I, but my wife and children continuously suffer. As a result, I'm in a state of depression and beginning to lose the fight against depression and hopelessness."

4. Wide shot of Azmat Begg speaking

5. Cutaway of press

6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Azmat Begg, father of Guantanamo Bay detainee:

"He has been held captive for more than two years and in all this time he has never been charged and tried. I do not ask for mercy, I ask for justice. Before mercy comes justice and my son has been denied justice."

7. Cutaway of press at news conference

8. SOUNDBITE: (German) Rabiye Kurnaz, Mother of Guantanamo Bay detainee:

"I want due process and justice for him and I want to see him. If it was possible, I'd want to bring him home, but I know that's not possible. I know he's not doing well. The way they're treating the detainees is against humanity."

9. Cutaway of cameras

10. Wide shot of Terry Waite, former hostage in Lebanon, speaking at podium in front of Supreme Court

11. SOUNDBITE: (English) Terry Waite, former hostage in Lebanon:

"We are here today because we believe there has been a major breech of human rights. Perhaps it was done with good intentions, but the consequences will be disastrous - disastrous for the United States and disastrous for all our freedoms."

12. Cutaway of cameras

13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Vanessa Redgrave, Actress, Founder of Guantanamo Human Rights Commission:

"You must have international human rights law and national law in which those international human rights are embodied. And that's why we're here, because this has been denied to the detainees, both in Guantanamo and other places that we've heard about like the British-American base of Diego Garcia. If there are no rights, then what do you have? Some call it an interrogation camp. I'm afraid I have to say I consider it to be a concentration camp."

14. Wide shot of families and press in front of the Supreme Court

STORYLINE:

Family members of some of the detainees being held in Guantanamo Bay were in Washington, Monday, seeking what they say are the basic rights their relatives are being denied.

The European family members of three terror suspects held at the US Navy base in Cuba urged President George W. Bush to release the prisoners for trial in their home countries, saying the indefinite detainment is taking a toll on their mental health.

At a press conference in front of the US Supreme Court, Azmat Begg read a letter from his son, Moazzam Begg, one of the estimated 640 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

In the letter, Moazzam Begg said that he has never been told of the crime for which he is being held.

Azmat Begg who came from England to pursue due process rights for his son, said that he was not asking for mercy for his son but simply justice, a sentiment reflected in a letter that he has written to Bush

Rabiye Kurnaz, the mother of another detainee, said that she is worried about the health and mental state of her son who has been held at Guantanamo for more than two years.

Kurnaz, who lives in Germany, said that she hasn't spoken with her son since he has been detained. But she fears, he is not doing well.

Human rights organisations have called on the United States to release the prisoners or at least say what is planned for them.

The groups say that the indefinite detentions have led to a deterioration in mental health and dozens of suicide attempts at the prison, set up shortly after the start of the war in Afghanistan in October 2001.

Terry Waite, a Briton who was held hostage in Lebanon for nearly five years in the 1980's, said that what the US government is doing in Cuba is similar to the injustice of his detention nearly two decades ago. He called the situation "a major breach of human rights."

The delegation of families was led by the Guantanamo Human Rights Commission, founded by actors Corin and Vanessa Redgrave.

The group has planned to hold a wide range of meetings with human right campaigners and faith leaders in Washington and New York.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments next month from lawyers representing foreign "enemy combatants" who are being held incommunicado at the military prison.

At issue is whether the prisoners may challenge their detention in US courts.

Administration officials have said they have wide legal latitude to interrogate the detainees for extended period, claiming that national security is at risk.