UNDER CONSTANT GUARD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26197, 6 July 1946, Page 7

UNDER CONSTANT GUARD

CHAINED BY THE WRISTS JERUSALEM, July 4. The released British officers were kept chained by the wrists, and guarded by four men with pistols during their 17-day captivity, states a Palestine Government statement. They were at first chained hand and foot, but Captain G. C. Warburton, one of the three officers, declared that he would go on hunger-strike as a protest, and his ankle chains were removed the second day. Ail the three officers were on hunger-strike for 48 hours prior to their release as a protest against the continuation of their detention. A The G.O.C. Tel-Aviv stated that the released men are fit and well. Reuter’s correspondent states that a voice over the telephone, purporting to come from Irgun Zvi Leumi, told him that each of the officers had been given £1 on release, “for wear and Captain Warburton said the guards were at first uncommunicative, but later they talked about the aims for the national State for which they declared they had plenty of finance and were willing to fight against the Arabs. They refused to permit the officers to play cards, but they provided them with Jewish propaganda pamphlets, and when the officers got bored with these they were given wild Western novels plus a newspaper, the Palestine Post, with pieces cut out of .it. Captain Warburton said the officers were chloroformed before they were taken in crates for delivery to Tel-Aviv.