15:12 ET<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nUS contractor Alan Gross, imprisoned in Cuba for illegally distributing communications equipment, has appealed to the island’s Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
He was sentenced to 15 years in March after he was accused of setting up illegal internet connections in Cuba.<\/p>\n
Gross, 62, says he was only trying to help Cuba’s small Jewish community.<\/p>\n
He has asked for his sentence to be dismissed. Cuba’s official news agency said the court would “issue a final sentence” in the coming days.<\/p>\n
Gross appeared in court with an attorney appointed by the Cuban authorities. His American lawyer wasn’t present. Foreign journalists were not allowed in court.<\/p>\n
The brief appeal hearing lasting less than two hours.<\/p>\n
Secretive programme<\/span><\/p>\nGross was arrested in December 2009. He was in Cuba working as a contractor for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on a secretive programme aimed at promoting democracy in Cuba.<\/p>\n
He was found guilty and sentenced in March for crimes against the state on the communist island.<\/p>\n
The White House called the prison term “another injustice” for Gross and said he had already spent too long in jail.<\/p>\n
Judy Gross had already made a separate plea to President Raul Castro for the immediate release of her husband on humanitarian grounds.<\/p>\n
She wrote a personal letter to Mr Castro a few weeks ago arguing that Gross’s daughter and stepmother are both battling cancer in the US.<\/p>\n
She said her husband suffers from gout, ulcers and has developed arthritis in prison.<\/p>\n
The US has previously said there can be no further easing of relations between the two countries until Gross is released.<\/p>\n
The BBC’s Michael Voss in Havana says the result of the appeal should give a strong indication of whether the Cuban authorities are serious about improving relations with the United States.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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