»The truth may be bitter, but it must be told« then I heard him take the gun off the safety catch and a shot was fired in the air. I discovered later that the others had heard the shot. They thought I had been killed. Then the policeman gave me paper and a pen. He ordered me: ›Draw the big ship that brought you from Libya.‹ He wanted to know how many of us there were, how long the journey had lasted and how we got into the small boat. He asked me the colour and the name of the boat. I answered: ›I don’t know.‹ Then they brought a plastic bucket full of water. I was kneeling the whole time. ›Do you see the water?‹ My arms were pressed together behind my back, held by one of the policemen. The other policeman put his hand on the nape of my neck and pushed my head down into the water; I couldn’t breathe anymore. I was only pulled up after some time. ›Do you now know the colour and name of the boat?‹ I said ‘no’. He punched me twice in the face. The policeman behind me grabbed my arms again. I wanted to take a deep breath of air. The policeman in front of me asked ›do you remember now, or not?‹ I said no again. He grabbed my head and pushed it into the water. I was absolutely terrified. I thought I would not survive. When I came up again the policeman again asked, ›so you don’t remember?‹ I repeated that I did not. So then the policeman took a plastic bag and put it over my head. With one hand he tightened the bag around my neck. I couldn’t breathe anymore. They repeated the process of the plastic bag three times – every time they asked the same question. Then a policeman signalled with his hand: that’s enough. A young man who was somewhat mentally retarded was afterwards also taken to the back of the ship. I could observe this. He was also given paper and pencil in order to draw the ship. He was also asked to give the colour and the name of the ship. The boy pointed at the white rubber gloves belonging to the policemen. I told the policemen that the boy was not in a position to be able to answer their questions. A policeman also showed the boy his weapon. The boy was shaking all over. I said to the policeman: ›The boy is half crazy, ask his father.‹ They then let the boy go and took another person from the front – a man of 21. He was also questioned and his head ducked into the bucket. He also had the plastic bag put over his head. Then they took another man (a roughly 30-year-old Palestinian). He was confronted with the same questions, three times ducked into the bucket, and three times the plastic bag over his head. We were all utterly terrified. 34 Annex: Excerpts from interviews The whole time the ship had been moving very slowly and suddenly it sped up. A policeman asked me: ›Where did you learn English?‹ I informed him that I had worked with tourists. ›We are taking you to a camp now. Everything will be all right. We know that you are lying, but you lie well.‹ The three other men and then later I myself were then taken back to the group (front part of the boat). A policeman ordered me to tell the others: ›Do not talk about what happened here. If you do anything wrong, we will kill you.‹ I translated this. The people said: ›OK‹. He told me to make it clear to the group that they should agree louder and clearer. The whole group screamed: ›OK‹. A policeman brought the bucket and ducked my head into the water in front of the whole group. I could not breathe. The policeman made it clear that he would do the same thing to the others if they were not silent. We were all totally shocked. We could not believe what had happened here. I found out later that the majority of the group had been beaten immediately after boarding the ship. The policemen took away their mobile phones and belts. When we arrived in the harbour at Chios I was informed that I would be the translator for the registration of the group. Transcript of a conversation with A., aged 29, a Palestinian from Lebanon (sustained a broken rib during capture by the coast guard), recorded by Elias Bierdel in Samos on 8 August 2007, the contents of which are the same as those in conversations recorded by the lawyer Marianna Tzeferakou (Athens) and Karl Kopp (Frankfurt) on Wednesday 18th July and Thursday 19th July in the Samos detention centre. »There were 22 of us. The Greek coast guard came while we were on the open sea. They pulled us on board, one after another. First of all, a 17-year-old. He was called Mohammad Fandi. They beat him up straight away. The others were scared and jumped into the water. They pulled us out and then the beating and shooting started... they beat me up and broke one of my ribs. We had to lie down flat and they stood on us. All that happened on the coast guard boat. No sooner were we aboard than they started pushing us around and beating us. One of you is the captain, they said, but that wasn’t true. He had paid for his crossing just like everyone else. No, they said, him there! He’s the smuggler, who brings these people into the country! They put him in prison (later), I think for seven years. The one who hit me, he