cigarettes
2008-05-19
During his incarceration in Zone 22 his parents – a builder and a housewife – not only shelled out more than ?100,000 in bribes and lawyers’ fees to try to secure his freedom but also, with the help of the British embassy, provided him with enough chocolate, coffee and cigarettes to bribe his way out of trouble.His girlfriend Lucy, with whom he had been planning to buy a house, was distressed to be told he was allowed visits only twice a year. So in June 2004, on the first of her three-hour prison visits, she proposed. If they were married, she reasoned, at least they would be allowed to see each other four times a year.
The wedding, five months later, was an odd occasion, says Hague. Held in a drab anteroom of the camp, the ceremony was conducted by a grim-faced female registrar, with one of the more sadistic guards acting as a witness and a junior member of the British embassy translating. Hague was not allowed even a sip of the sparkling wine that Lucy had brought to celebrate the occasion – instead the guard polished it off himself. And the 48-hour honeymoon took place in a dirty cell, with two single beds pushed together.
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