MIAMI -- The Inter American Press Association has accused Cuba of harassing of independent journalists and called for the release of 75 dissidents and journalists from its jails.

A news release marking Thursday's one-year anniversary of the crackdown on the dissident movement and independent journalists in Cuba said the communist island jails the most journalists than any other country, 32.

``Journalism in Cuba is still characterized by ever more deplorable threats to the free exercise of the profession, democratic values and human dignity,'' said the IAPA, a continentwide organization of newspapers based in Miami.

The dissenters -- 74 men and a woman-- were sentenced after the March 18, 2003, roundup to terms of six to 28 years, accused of working for the U.S. government to undermine the communist government of Fidel Castro. The dissidents have said their only crime was speaking their mind.

The organization offered heavy criticism of Cuba for having squalid conditions in its jails, raiding the homes of independent journalists, tapping their phones and even assaulting them on the streets.

In one case cited by the IAPA report, journalist Maria Elena Alpizar was attacked Feb. 20 in the streets in Placetas, Cuba. Alpizar was on her way to report a police raid when a car carrying police officers hit her in the presence of witnesses, the report said. She was detained for several hours and fined, the report said.

However, the report also says that relatives of some of the journalists a relative change in the attitude toward some of the prisoners. Since the middle of February, some have been transferred to jails closer to their homes and several are getting medical exams.

But the report said that the change ``seems to be an attempt to mitigate the growing number of petitions for amnesty and international criticism.''

The report also mentioned the recent release of a jailed journalist Bernardo Arevalo Padron as a step forward. Arevalo was jailed in 1997 on a contempt charge against Cuban President Fidel Castro and Vice President Carlos Lage and completed a six-year sentence of hard labor, the report said.

No one could be reached Friday at the U.S. Interests Section in Washington to comment on the report.

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