Two Cuban political prisoners are to seek political asylum in Spain following their release from prison on humanitarian grounds.

The two men, Jesus Chamber Rodriguez and Dessi Mendoza Rivero, were on a list of eighteen prisoners whose release was asked for by Spanish foreign minister Abel Matutes in a visit to Cuba earlier this month.

Meanwhile, the Cuban police have released six people arrested on Friday during protests outside a courthouse where an indepedent journalist was due to go on trial.