BRUTAL PERSECUTION

Northern Advocate, 30 July 1934, Page 5

BRUTAL PERSECUTION

JAPANESE GAOL METHODS

“BREAKING THE SPIRIT.”

AIR BICKERTON’.S EXPERIENCE

■(United Press Association—By Electrld Telegraph.—Copyright.) (Received 10,30 a.m.) LONDON, July 20.

Air W. AT. Bickorton, the New Zealander who was arrested and imprisoned for alleged Communist activities, in an article in the “Alanchcster Guardian”' describes his experiences in Japan'.'

He says: “The inhuman treatment I received is part of the normal methods of breaking the spirit of a prisoner I'was'kept in a. cell 12 feet by feet, in which there were never fewer than nine and often fourteen prisoners. Three went raging mad. I was not allowed baths or exercise during twenty-four days of confinement. The brutality of the guards was unimaginable. They stripped and beat the prisoners till their backs wore raw flesh. ’’

Air Bickcrton describes how, after several days of cross-examination, detectives became incensed by his refusal to* admit their insinuation. They trod on his toes, kicked, smacked and punched him, saying: “It’s no use being gentle witli the wits of this beast.” They produced a baseball bat, saying it was six years since they had used it and were a bit out of practice. They cracked Aim over the logs and thighs when he declined to answer questions. On the following day they again' kicked and punched him to help his memory. The treatment changed after, the visit of the British Consul, which made liis interrogators uncomfortable, but later, when Air Bickorton persisted in his refusal to disclose who.gave him a copj' of a Communist paper, they beat him with a bamboo stick until he collapsed.

Later detectives worked themselves into a frenzy of rage, grabbed him by the hair and banged his head on a cupboard. When Mr Bickerton protested to the Chief of Police he said: “Men are not gods, and police officers arc men. When prisoners are obstinate, officers naturally lose their tempers.”