WASHINGTON, March 13 (UPI) -- The Obama administration has protested the sentencing of a U.S. national to 15 years in prison by a Cuban court.
Maryland resident Alan Gross, 61, was sentenced Saturday for "crimes against the state" following his arrest in 2009 while working to bring Internet service to Cuba's Jewish community.
"Today's sentencing adds another injustice to Alan Gross's ordeal. He has already spent too many days in detention and should not spend one more," Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, said in a written statement.
Gross is a contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development and had taken part in similar Internet project in other developing nations. But the Jewish Telegraph Agency said the main Jewish groups in Cuba denied having any contact with him.
Nevertheless, international Jewish groups and other public figures have been calling for his release on humanitarian grounds.
Gross suffers from gout and his daughter and mother have both undergone cancer treatment, JTA said.
