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We were the only foreign tv news crew allowed into the trial of twenty women who arrived illegally in -----stan over a year ago. We were not allowed to film in the court room.

The court was in an old concrete barracks left behind by the Russians when they left ----stan. We had visited the women who were kept in the isolated barracks prison a year ago. The conditions were harsh with the women being kept chained and hooded much of the time with no communication with the outside world.

The trial was bizarre. lt was said to be a Women's Military Court. There were three judges - all women in military uniform wearing balaclava helmets. The prosecutor and defence lawyers were also women dressed in military uniform wearing balaclava helmets. The women were charged with illegal entry into the state, illegal possession of firearms and theft of a goat.

The women were led into the court in a long line chained together by chains running round rings round their necks. They were dressed in dark green long hooded parkas with the hoods up over their heads and faces. All had their hands handcuffed behind their backs and their ankles in leg irons. They were made to stand in a line against the wall in the front the court. The prosecution announced that the charges of possessing firearms and entering the illegally would be dropped. But they would face an additional charge of failing to produce valid lD cards. A peasant farmer gave evidence to say he has seen the women steal his fully grown goat.

The defence pleaded guilty on their behalf for both charges.

The Judges found all twenty women guilty and sentenced them to two years strict regime punishment in prison. They were further to be held in isolation and removed from the state at end of their sentence.

We were allowed to talk to some of the women as they were shuffling out of court.The women were wearing SAS style balaclavas under their hoods and leather gags. They said they were still kept chained and hooded most of the time and the conditions had got worse as the now spent every night with their necks and feet in wooden stocks. They were worried about being deported as they feared they would be dumped on the border of the next state and end up in a similar jail again. They were part of the armed forces of a third state's Women's Brigade which had disowned them.

After the trial we got access to the women prisoners by making arrangements with a guard. She said that their sentence meant that they would be gagged and hooded all the time except when being fed, showered or toileted.

We were shown into a cell. Awoman's figure could just be made out under her heavy parka.

She was lying on her back on a wooden bench with wooden stocks fastened round her neck and feet, her hands handcuffed and fastened to a chain round her waist. The guard pulled a canvas sack off her head to reveal her face concealed behind her parka hood balaclava and leather gag. The guard unstrapped the gag.

The woman said she was twenty one and had been in the army for two years. They had been sent to look for smugglers on the border when they were stopped by a strong ----stan Army patrol.

They had been kept in chains all the time in prison but now their conditions had got even harsher. Being kept in the stocks made the legs and arms painful and weak. She tried to do exercises when she was free to stand up but it was still hard in leg and hand chains.

She had only managed to speak briefly to a comrade in the shower.

They tried to tap morse code to each other but the guards were more vigilant and beat them with canes.

We saw into several other cells. All the women we saw were chained and had heavy concealing canvas hoods over their heads. The guards said this was severe imprisonment as recognised by international law. She said it was used by a large North American country and was based on the "Stanton" rules of imprisonment dating back to the imprisonment of the murderers of Abraham Lincoln.

The justice and prison system of ---stan seems a long way from the Western ideal.

Report obtained and made available by Andy Chesterman.

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