A former Cuban exile convicted of killing a man when he returned to the island to try to start a rebellion had his death sentence commuted on Tuesday in the third such decision this month by Cuba's Supreme Court.

The court reduced the sentence of Humberto Eladio Real Suarez to 30 years, said Elizardo Sanchez of the independent Cuban Commission of Human Rights.

Real has been imprisoned since 1994 when he and six other exiles came to Cuba from Florida to organise an armed uprising against the communist-led government.

He was accused of killing a guard and stealing his car before police caught the group, heavily armed with pistols and automatic weapons....