.c The Associated Press
PARIS (AP) - A journalist watchdog group demanded the release of a jailed Cuban reporter on Tuesday and a halt to arrests of other reporters in the island nation.
Using the eve of Cuba's Communist Party Congress to make its statement, the French-based Reporters Without Borders called on Fidel Castro's government to end its alleged harassment of journalists.
Two years after Cuba allowed the creation of independent news agencies, ``the harassment against the press agencies is intensifying'' the group charged.
Thirty-six reporters have been arrested or detained this year, well above the 21 detained last year, the group said.
It also called for the release of Lorenzo Paez Nunez, a correspondent for the Cuban Independent Press Bureau who was arrested July 10. The next day, without a lawyer, he was convicted of defamation of the police and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
The group also urged the European Union to pressure Cuba into allowing greater press freedom.
AP-NY-10-07-97 1830EDT
Copyright 1997 The Associated Press.