By The Associated Press

          HAVANA (AP) -- An activist arrested for hanging a Cuban flag upside
          down in an act of protest faced up to seven years in prison today as the
          communist government put him on trial on charges of dishonoring
          patriotic symbols.

          During his testimony, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet admitted that flags were
          hung upside down at his home. He said the action was commonly
          practiced throughout Cuban history as a sign of civil disobedience by
          patriots protesting government actions.

          ``In no moment was there an intention to dishonor national symbols,''
          Biscet told a three-member tribunal. ``I respect those symbols. I am
          Cuban.''

          Biscet also told how he became an activist after protesting late-term
          abortions at a government hospital where he worked as a physician. He
          was eventually fired.

          The protest involving the flags had nothing to do with Biscet's
          anti-abortion stance. But his opposition to Cuban policies allowing
          abortion on demand has been a constant theme in interviews with foreign
          journalists and in demonstrations calling for freedom of expression and
          the release of political prisoners.

          He and his supporters have enraged the government on several occasions
          with protest signs reading ``Child Murderers'' -- an anti-abortion
          declaration largely misunderstood in a country where abortion is
          extremely common and carries virtually no social stigma.

          The physician heads a human rights group called the Lawton Foundation.
          He was arrested Nov. 3 after he hung the flag upside down during a
          protest. That enraged Cuban authorities, for whom the national flag and
          other patriotic symbols are sacred.

          At least nine anti-government activists were being held today in an
          apparent move to prevent protests outside the courthouse, said Elizardo
          Sanchez, president of the independent Cuban Commission of Human
          Rights and National Reconciliation. Such detentions are commonly used
          in Cuba to prevent public demonstrations.

          Sanchez said the eight men and one woman would likely be released
          after today's hearing ended.

          Biscet was brought into the courtroom this morning by two men in olive
          green uniforms.

          ``I feel confident,'' Biscet's wife, Elsa Morejon, said before entering the
          courtroom. ``Everything will turn out all right.''

          Two other government opponents, Fermin Scull Zulueta and Eduardo
          Diaz Fleitas, were to be tried in a separate case in the same courtroom
          today. They face sentences of up to 4 1/2 years each, said Sanchez, who
          did not provide specifics on the charges against them.

          Unlike in some past trials, in this case authorities were allowing a small
          group of journalists to observe the proceedings. Fidel Castro's
          government was criticized last spring when the trial of four well-known
          opposition leaders charged with sedition was closed to the press and the
          public. Those four received sentences ranging from 3 1/2 to five years.

          Cuba says it holds no true prisoners of conscience, only common
          criminals.