Chennai: The family members of 15 Tamil Nadu fishermen who returned to India on Thursday after spending more than five months in the captivity of Iranian authorities told this newspaper that all of them were forced to do squats on the sands from noon for two hours daily while in detention.
"My husband told me over the phone that they were forced to do squats on the seashore for two hours daily. If someone faints, water will be sprayed on his face and once he regains consciousness he will be asked to continue to do squats. Otherwise, Iranian Coast Guard people used to beat them up," said Kala, wife of D Verghese, one of the 15 men who reached Chennai on Thursday night.
All the 15 fishermen - 7 each from Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli districts and 1 from Ramanathpuram — were never kept in prison on land, but were confined in a mechanised fishing boat all these months. Every day by noon the boat would be taken to the shore and the 15 fishermen would be asked do squats and later taken back to the boat.
The fishermen, working for a fishing firm in Bahrain on commission basis, drifted into Iranian waters in three boats as they were looking for a better catch on October 23, the day they were caught by Iranian Coast Guards.
After keeping them in a prison for four days, the fishermen were later shifted to a large mechanised boat where they were kept in Coast Guard's custody but with local fishermen's supervision. The TN fishermen started helping the Iranian counterparts in readying nets and other things. This impressed local fishermen who used provide them extra food. They also gave their mobile phones at least once a month to TN men who used to be keep in touch with their family members.
Meanwhile, NGOs like International Fishermen Development Trust and South Indian organisations in Gulf countries began putting pressure on authorities of Iran and Bahrain through Indian external affair ministry. Finally, all the 15 were released from Iran on April 2 and sent to Bahrain from where they reached Chennai via Dubai on Thursday night.
