Cuba upholds US contractor Alan Gross sentence
Cuba's Supreme Court has upheld a 15-year prison sentence imposed on a US contractor accused of crimes against the state.
The contractor, 62-year-old Alan Gross, was convicted in March of distributing illegal communications equipment in Havana.
He says he was just trying to help Cuba's small Jewish community.
The rejection of his appeal is likely to further sour relations between the US and Cuba.
In his appeal hearing last month Gross admitted bringing satellite equipment into the country, but said he never intended to harm the Cuban government.
The Supreme Court rejected his argument, saying he was part of a US government programme aimed at "destabilising" and "subverting" Cuba's communist system.
Gross's US lawyer, Peter Kahn, said in a statement that his family was "heartbroken" by the decision, but remained hopeful that there could be a diplomatic solution.