The 15 British sailors released by Iran disclosed Friday how they were subjected to intense "psychological pressure" and threatened with prison during their two weeks in captivity.
Addressing a press conference a day after they returned to Britain, Royal Marine Captain Chris Air and naval Lieutenant Felix Carman said they had been isolated from each other, handled roughly and told they faced seven years imprisonment if they failed to confess to being in Iranian waters.
They were at times blindfolded and handcuffed when lined up against a wall and their Iranian captors used mind games in an attempt to get information and confessions. There was "constant psychological pressure," Carman said as he read out a joint statement on behalf of the eight sailors and seven marines captured in the northern Gulf on March 23 while carrying out anti-smuggling operations.
"Fighting back was simply not an option," said Air of their capture. "If we had, some of us would not be here today, of that I am completely sure."
Air, 25, was one of the captive servicemen shown on Iraqi television admitting that the group had trespassed into Iranian waters. On Friday, he rescinded that statement, stressing that they were "well inside" Iraqi waters when captured.
The only woman in the group, leading seaman Faye Turney, 26, was separated from the men straight away and later told that the others had gone home four days earlier. "She coped admirably" Air said, according to AFP.
Carman, 26 said of the interrogation techniques used by their Iranian captors: "The questions were aggressive and the handling a bit rough," he said.
