WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Cuba’s Raul Castro has kept  the system his brother Fidel used to repress critics, refusing  to free scores of people imprisoned years ago and jailing  others for “dangerousness,” Human Rights Watch said in a report  issued yesterday.

The assessment came as President Barack Obama says he wants  to “recast” ties with Cuba and Congress is considering lifting  a ban on U.S. travel to the Communist-run island 90 miles (145  km) from Florida.

Fidel Castro temporarily ceded power to his younger brother  Raul in July, 2006 and formally stepped aside as president last  year because of illness.

Raul Castro has relied in particular on a Cuban law that  lets the state imprison people even before they commit a crime,  Human Rights Watch said.

The group documented more than 40 cases under Raul Castro  in which Cuba has imprisoned individuals for “dangerousness”  because they sought to do things such as stage peaceful marches  or organize independent labor unions.

In addition, 53 prisoners who were sentenced in a 2003  crackdown on dissidents under Fidel Castro are still in jail,  the report by the global human rights monitor said.

Systematic repression has created a climate of fear among  Cuban dissidents, and prison conditions are inhumane, said  Human Rights Watch, whose researchers traveled to the island  for two weeks during the summer for their report.

Jail is only one of the tactics used, it said. “Dissidents  who try to express their views are often beaten, arbitrarily  arrested, and subjected to public acts of repudiation.”

In one recent well-publicized example, Cuban dissident  blogger Yoani Sanchez said she was beaten this month by men she  thinks were state security agents.