San Francisco, January 8 (RHC)-- A recent newspaper article published by the San Francisco Chronicle has revealed that former U.S. judges requested clemency for the Cuban Five in early 2014 by a letter hand-delivered to President Barack Obama.

Nine retired appellate court judges from California, Washington, Montana and Iowa submitted the February 24th, 2014 letter to Obama, urging clemency for Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero and Ramón Labañino --the three remaining members of the Cuban Five group.

The judges' deed only became public after Gerardo, Ramón and Antonio were home with their families and people in Cuba. The letter, titled "Justices for Clemency," was personally delivered to Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder by an unnamed senior U.S. senator.

Prominent among the letter's signers is former California Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso, the first Latino in that court and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the U.S. highest civilian honor, for his life's work advocating social justice.

According to the Chronicle, Justice Reynoso was "also dismayed by post-trial disclosures that several Miami journalists - whose reports during the trial further inflamed the atmosphere- were on the U.S. State Department payroll."

Montana attorney, journalist and documentary filmmaker Brian Kahn organized the campaign after he learned about the Cuban Five case in 2013. Kahn said: "I felt the Five had clearly been denied a fair trial. I felt the most credible source to appeal to the President would be retired appellate justices, and so I set about to find them.

On December 19, 2014, the justices sent a second letter to President Obama, this time of appreciation for releasing the three Cubans. They wrote: “We deeply appreciate your courageous action in defending the rule of law and upholding our Constitution.”

As Brian Kahn rightly said: "The nine U.S. justices deserve deep appreciation for their commitment to justice, and putting their names on the line."