Washington: US Secretary of State Colin Powell has condemned "despicable repression" of political opponents in Cuba and asked President Fidel Castro to immediately release the nearly 80 dissidents who were arrested and sentenced to lengthy prison terms recently.

"In recent days, the Cuban government has undertaken the most significant act of political repression in decades," Powell said in a statement on April 10, attacking Havana's recent crackdown on dissidents.

"Nearly 80 representatives of a growing and truly independent civil society have been arrested, convicted and sentenced to lengthy prison terms in summary, secret trials. Their only crime was seeking basic human rights and freedoms," Powell said.

"We call on Castro to end this despicable repression and free these prisoners of conscience," he said, adding that the United States would continue to condemn Cuba's "abysmal human rights performance in the strongest possible terms".

"The United States and the international community will be unrelenting in our insistence that Cubans who seek peaceful change be permitted to do so. We are working with our partners on the Human Rights Commission in Geneva to develop a resolution that condemns Cuba's abysmal human rights performance in the strongest possible terms," he said.

PTI