London – The 15 British sailors and marines held by Iran for nearly two weeks have permission to sell their stories to the media, the Ministry of Defense said Sunday, making an exception because of what it called “exceptional” interest.
Serving service personnel are usually not allowed to enter into financial arrangements with media organizations, but exceptions are allowed, the ministry said in a statement.
“It was clear that the stories they had to tell were likely to have emerged via family and friends regardless of any decision the navy took,” the ministry statement said.
Lt. Felix Carman, who was in charge of the crew when it was seized by Iranian forces March 23, told the British Broadcasting Corp. he was uninterested in making money from his time in captivity.
“My main aim is to tell the story,” he said.
“There’s some people who might be making money, but that’s an individual’s decision; that’s very private. But that’s not something that myself or many of the others will do.”
Ex-captives allege abuse
After their release last week, the crew members told reporters in Britain they were subjected to constant psychological pressure in detention.
In an attempt to refute that claim, Iran broadcast new video Sunday showing some of the crew playing chess and watching television during their captivity.
Some of the footage, briefly aired on Iran’s state-run Arabic satellite-TV channel Al-Alam, also showed crew members watching soccer on TV and eating at a long table decorated with flowers. The crew members could be heard laughing and chatting.
A newscaster said the video proved “the sailors had complete liberty during their detention, which contradicts what the sailors declared after they arrived in Britain.”
At a news conference Friday, Carman said the sailors and marines were allowed to socialize only for the benefit of the Iranian media.
Some question decision
British media regularly pay for high-profile interviews, but the decision to allow the crew to sell their stories has come under some criticism.
The opposition Conservative Party’s defense spokesman, Liam Fox, said many people would feel that selling the stories was “somewhat undignified and falls below the very high standards we have come to expect from our servicemen and -women.”
William Hague, the party’s foreign-affairs spokesman, told Sky News his party would question the decision in Parliament.
Menezies Campbell, who leads the Liberal Democrats, the No. 3 party, told the BBC that he was concerned there could be “inadvertent” leaks of sensitive information.
The Sunday Times reported that the group’s lone woman, 26- year-old Leading Seaman Faye Turney, could earn as much as $300,000 from deals with a broadcaster and a newspaper.
