Mexican President Vicente Fox freed two prominent environmentalists from prison yesterday amid widespread allegations that they had been tortured into signing false confessions on bogus charges. Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera had led protests against illegal logging activities in the southern state of Guerrero before they were jailed in May 1999 on weapons and drugs offenses. Both men say they only confessed after being tortured for several days and claim they were being punished for their attempts to defend the forests of the Sierra Madre mountain range from rapacious logging.