Freed Britons say 'confessions' coerced By TARIQ PANJA, Associated Press Writer 33 minutes ago
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Freed Britons say 'confessions' coerced By TARIQ PANJA, Associated
Press Writer
33 minutes ago
ROYAL MARINE BASE CHIVENOR, England - British sailors and marines
freed by Iran said Friday they were blindfolded, isolated in
cold stone cells and tricked into fearing execution while being
coerced into falsely saying they had entered Iranian waters.
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They said there was no doubt the 15 crew members were in Iraq's
territorial waters when they were seized by heavily armed boats of
Iran's Revolutionary Guard. They also said their jailers had singled
out the only woman among the captives for use in propaganda.
Iran, which has been celebrating the incident as a victory, quickly
rejected the charges, dismissing a news conference held by six of the
freed personnel as "propaganda" and "a show." Iranian state TV accused
British leaders of "dictating" the crew's statements.
Appearing a day after being flown home to reunions with their
families, the eight sailors and seven marines reported undergoing
constant psychological pressure and being threatened with seven years
in prison if they did not say they intruded into Iranian waters.
They said their captors also lined them up against a wall one night to
the ominous sound of weapons cocking behind their heads.
"At some points I did have fears that we would not survive," Operator
Maintainer Arthur Batchelor, 20, the youngest sailor among the
captives, told The Associated Press in an interview.
Speaking at the news conference with five colleagues, the boat team's
commander, Royal Navy Lt. Felix Carman, said the prisoners were
harshly interrogated during 13 days in custody and slept in stone
cells on piles of blankets.
"All of us were kept in isolation. We were interrogated most nights
and presented with two options: If we admitted that we'd strayed, we'd
be on a plane to (Britain) pretty soon. If we didn't, we faced up to
seven years in prison," he said.
Carman, who was one of the captives who appeared in Iranian videos
seeming to admit being in Iran's waters, disavowed his earlier
comment.
"Let me make this clear - irrespective of what was said in the past -
when we were detained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard we were
inside internationally recognized Iraqi territorial waters," he said.
Royal Marine Joe Tindell said he came to believe one of his colleagues
had been executed on the second day of their ordeal.
The 21-year-old said the crew had believed they were being taken to
the British Embassy in Tehran to be released, but were instead dumped
in a holding facility.
"We had a blindfold and plastic cuffs, hands behind our backs, heads
against the wall. ... There were weapons cocking," Tindell told
British Broadcasting Corp. radio. "Someone said, I quote: 'Lads, lads,
I think we're going to get executed.' ... Someone was sick and as far
as I was concerned he had just had his throat cut."
Royal Marine Capt. Chris Air said the crew, operating in two
inflatable boats in the Persian Gulf on March 23 checking vessels for
smuggled goods, was confronted by two Revolutionary Guard boats.
"They rammed our boats and trained their heavy machine guns, RPGs and
weapons on us. Another six boats were closing in on us," Air said.
He said the team quickly decided that a gunbattle would risk a major
escalation of tensions with Iran and that they were too lightly armed
to resist anyway.
"From the outset it was very apparent that fighting back was simply
not an option," Air said. "Had we chosen to do so, then many of us
would not be standing here today. Of that I have no doubts."
Britain's top naval officer said boarding operations would be
suspended while a review is conducted.
"Coalition operations continue under U.K. command," said Adm. Jonathon
Band, head of the Royal Navy. "Currently, our (operations) have been
suspended while we do that review."
While much of Britain rallied behind the returning crew, some critics
complained about the prisoners appearing in videos in which they
appeared to admit entering Iranian waters and offered regrets.
Military commanders have stood behind the crew. They didn't break
rules by complying with the Iranian demands, the head of the Royal
Navy, Adm. Jonathon Band, told the BBC. "I think, in the end, they
were a credit to us," he said.
The most visible of the seized sailors during their captivity was
Leading Seaman Faye Turney, a 26-year-old mother of a young girl and
the first crew member to be interviewed on Iranian television. Turney
did not attend the news conference.
It's not possible to know everything the sailors and marines said to
their captors but at least some statements avoided saying definitely
they were in Iran's waters.
For example, in one of the letters made public from Turney, she said
she had "apparently gone into Iranian waters." In a video clip from
Iranian TV, Air said "we were seized apparently at this point here on
their maps and on the GPS they've shown us, which is inside Iranian
territorial waters."
Air said Turney was singled out by the Iranians, who put her in
solitary confinement and told her all the men had been released. "She
was under the impression for about four days that she was the only one
there," he told reporters.
In an interview with AP, Air said there were a "few incidents when our
safety was at risk," citing occasions when the sailors were held
separately, making them more vulnerable.
He said the crew faced a difficult task when complying with their
captors' requests for them to admit publicly they were in Iranian
territory - a fact they knew to be untrue. "We were very careful about
what we said and what we didn't say," he told AP.
Prime Minister Tony Blair's office refused to comment on the
crew's description of their treatment in Iran, but the White House
said the reports of ill-treatment were disappointing.
"If what they described is accurate, then that would not seem to be
appropriate behavior and action," White House spokesman Gordon
Johndroe said. "It's unfortunate that the Iranians ever detained the
sailors to begin with."
Iran's state television showed parts of the news conference, but with
no sound. Without revealing their specific comments, a newscaster said
the Britons "retreated from their confessions," while an unidentified
analyst charged their statements were "dictated" by British
officials.
Mohammad Ali Hosseini, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, also criticized
the British statements, the TV report said. "Propaganda actions and
shows can't cover up actions by the British military men and their
repeated violation in illegal entry into Iran's territorial waters,"
he said.
Earlier, during Friday sermons at mosques around Iran, government
clerics touted the end of the standoff with Britain as a victory for
Iran.
Some told worshippers the British government apologized for the crews'
entry into Iranian waters. The British government says it never
apologized, and even Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
acknowledged before the crew's release that Britain stuck to its
stance that the crew was seized in Iraqi waters.
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