Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas (R) shouts anti- government slogans before casting his vote last year during the First Congress of Dissidents held at a private residence in the outskirts of Havana. AFP PHOTO

The Frankfurt-based International Society for Human Rights (IGFM), said Cuban authorities had cited medical grounds for refusing Farinas permission to travel to Europe.

Farinas went on a seven-month hunger strike this year to demand unrestricted Internet access for Cubans.

He was admitted to an intensive care unit and is in a wheelchair.

The Cuban state security services told Farinas that photographs of him in a wheelchair "would damage the image of the revolution", the IGFM said.

The group said it was hoping Farinas' mother would be allowed to come to Germany to receive the prize on his behalf.

Farinas, a journalist who founded the independent press agency, Cubanacan, was awarded the Weimar prize for his work in developing democracy.