Ja: The rest of the story

THE YEAR 1959 will be eternally etched in Leslie Fitzmaurice Marsh's memory. But, not for good. It was the year he had a 'hell' of an experience. Today, more than a generation later, the 87-year-old is alive to tell the tale. Mr. Marsh, 35 years old at the time, was imprisoned in Baghdad, Iraq, under 'suspicion of espionage'. A crime that, he said, was punishable by death.
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He told The Sunday Gleaner that he went to Iraq in 1952 as a service engineer at the Baghdad arm of the Joseph Lucas and Company Limited for which he worked while he was living in England. He developed a healthy rapport with the Iraqis. Seven years later, the good relationship they shared took a 180-degree turn after he was linked to a failed assassination attempt on the life of then Iraqi Prime Minister, General Abdul Karim Kassem on October 7.

...The authorities arrested Mr. Marsh on October 9 on the premise that he had connections with 'destructive elements' who plotted the attack. He was never officially charged. After the arrest came the reality of life in an Iraqi prison.

"They would have killed me. They wouldn't think twice about putting me outside and shooting me. They don't give you any time. When you go to court and they say you're going to die because you're a murderer, a thief or a rebellious man they just walk you out of the courthouse into the square and shoot you at the same time. The firing squad is there waiting on you. You don't have any time to worry about going to look for your mother or your father," he explained.
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Mr. Marsh said that the deplorable conditions of our nation's penal institutions would look like paradise standing next to what he was exposed to in Iraq.

"What I can tell you, that in our jails out here, we have nothing to compare with what goes on in their jails. Nothing... Those jails are the worst thing in the world. You get nothing that's to do with humanity," lamented Mr. Marsh.

He said overcrowding was a serious issue, as the rather small room was home to more than 30 detainees. "I had a corner and I could just sit down and lean down on the corner."

The jailhouse had a dirt floor, which the prisoners had to use as chair and bed interchangeably. Plus sanitary conveniences left a lot to be desired....

However, on the upside was the fact that water and food was provided. It was not of rice and peas and chicken calibre but it was welcomed. Since he was not privileged to a television or other forms of entertainment, he was reduced to watching the other prisoners picking fleas off themselves or each other.

...Mr. Marsh said he made a request to use the bathroom and was subsequently shoved into the impromptu toilet by the guard.

"They bore a hole in the ground and cement the top part and you do what you have into do in that hole. That is how I got damaged. One of the guards when I asked him to use the toilet, him just push me and seh see it right there... one foot went in and one was out and that is how I got injured. I hurt my back and it still trouble me up to this day," said Mr. Marsh as he recalled the harsh reality that was thrust on him.