9 months next to gallows

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33408, 14 December 1973, Page 9

9 months next to gallows

Press Association—Copyright)

LONDON, December 12.

A Briton who was a prisoner of African guerrillas for 11 months, nine of them in solitary confinement in a cell for the condemned, told of his experiences last night.

Mr Gerald Hawksworth, aged 29. a British citizen whose mother still lives in Rhodesia, was working as a land inspector for the Rhodesian Government when he was kidnapped. He arrived in Britain from Tanzania on Monday after his release at the week-end In an interview in an Independent Television News programme. Mr Hawksworth said he believed that the reason for his abduction and subsequent release was • pure propaganda.” “But the whole period was a ven- tense time for me.” he said. "I played the good bov the whole time, because if I had stepped slightly out of line at any time I could have been eliminated. •‘I was in fear for the whole 11 months. Now. only when I am back here, am I able to relax a bit. For 11 months I have been obliged to watch every word 1 said. “The conditions of my imprisonment were the same as those for African prisoners, who are given a hell of a time in these prisons. ‘‘l had. on a concrete floor, a straw mat, and one blanket, and for nine months 1 was m solitary confinement in a cell <n the condemned section. The door opening awav from ne was the one leading to the gallows, and I was told

many times: ‘You will end up there.’ “I escaped the gallows, 1 believe, because they were not sure what I was going tc say. but thought it was going to help them ... I think the conclusion they wantec drawn was that because Mi Smith is hanging them ovei there, by letting me go they did me a big favour.”