WASHINGTON, March 10: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday renewed her call for the government of Cuba to release Alan Gross, a US contractor awaiting a court verdict there on subversion charges.

“We deplore the injustice toward Alan Gross. We want him home,” Clinton said in her first remarks on the case since Gross's two-day trial concluded in Havana on Saturday.

“He needs to be home with his family immediately,” Clinton said in remarks to the House Appropriations Committee.

A verdict in the case is due at any time, since under Cuban law the five-judge panel has six days from the end of trial to announce its verdict.

If convicted, Gross, 61, faces 20 years in prison on the communist island for allegedly committing “acts against the independence and territorial integrity of the state.” He was working under contract for the US State Department when he was arrested in late 2009 for distributing cell phones and computers to members of the island's struggling Jewish community.

The United States has denied the charges and the case has chilled a brief warming in US-Cuban relations that followed President Barack Obama's taking office.

Clinton also declared Washington's “absolute, ironclad commitment” to freedom and democracy, despite recent controversial moves by the Barack Obama administration to improve ties with Havana.—AFP