US secures release of 135 political prisoners from Nicaragua

There has been a crackdown on dissent since anti-government protests in 2018

US officials have secured the release of 135 political prisoners from Nicaragua on humanitarian grounds.

All 135 are Nicaraguan citizens who were unjustly detained, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement.

Those released were taken to Guatemala, where they arrived on Thursday morning local time, and will be given the chance to apply to move to the US.

The Nicaraguan government led by President Daniel Ortega has jailed hundreds of people since mass protests broke out against his rule in 2018.

The United Nations human rights office (OHCHR) published a report on Tuesday documenting the deterioration in Nicaragua's human rights situation in the past year.

It described a dozen cases in which detainees were tortured through various forms of sexual abuse and electric shocks.

It found that "not only those who express dissenting opinions, but also any individual or organisation that operates independently or does not fall directly under their control" are being persecuted by the Nicaraguan authorities.

More than 5,000 non-governmental groups, private universities and civil society organisations have been closed down on government orders.

Those with links to church groups in particular have been targeted, with priests and pastors arbitrarily arrested, sometimes dragged away by force as they were holding Mass.

Among those freed on Thursday are Catholic laypeople, students and 13 members of Texas-based evangelical organisation Mountain Gateway, the White House statement said.

This is the second time the US has secured the release of a large group of political prisoners from Nicaragua.

In February of last year, 222 detainees were flown from Managua to the United States.

Rights groups have denounced the intensifying crackdown on dissent in the Central American nation for years.

Measures taken against those who have spoken out against Mr Ortega include stripping them of their Nicaraguan citizenship and seizing their homes and assets.

In its statement, the White House called on the Nicaraguan government to "cease the arbitrary arrest and detention of its citizens for merely exercising their fundamental freedoms".

The Nicaraguan government has not yet commented.