SUPREME COURT RENDERS ITS DECISION

On February 22, 1967, the Supreme Court rendered its decision on the appeal we had lodged in the Feijó case. It upheld the Plenary Court’s decision to sentence 49 members of the congregation to prison terms. All 49 had their political rights suspended for a period of four years. Ten interested persons, not baptized Witnesses, received suspended sentences. Prison terms ranged from a minimum of one and a half months to five and a half months. The court also fined each Witness a sum varying from 1,350 escudos ($47 U.S.) to 5,000 escudos ($175 U.S.) and requiring court costs of 1,000 escudos ($35 U.S.) each.

Since a number of husbands were not in the truth and desired to put up the necessary funds to keep their wives out of prison, a total of 24 Witnesses were finally imprisoned. The youngest was 20 years of age and the oldest, 70. In some cases both husband and wife were imprisoned, thus creating a problem for their children. Twenty children, ranging from 15 months to 16 years of age, were separated from their Christian parents. Other brothers and sisters, however, manifested love by offering to care for these youngsters. Why, more homes were offered than necessary! Generous contributions were also received to take care of these children. From the United States alone came the equivalent of 130,000 escudos ($4,600 U.S.). What marvelous evidence of care and loving concern!

On May 18, 1967, the convicted Witnesses presented themselves at the Plenary Court for imprisonment. The sisters were assigned to Mónicas Prison and the brothers to Limoeiro Prison, both some twenty minutes on foot from the courthouse. A truly unprecedented spectacle followed. The brothers were told to walk over to prison unescorted and to turn themselves in. Imagine! Here were these “dangerous citizens,” husbands and wives​—condemned to prison for being a risk to “the security of the State”—​with complete liberty to walk to prison! The lawyer who defended our brothers, Dr. Vasco de Almeida e Silva, personally bade farewell to each one. He made the following observation: “There was no shouting or screaming. No emotional outbursts on the part of the sisters. They were admirably calm and dignified and conducted themselves as I would think real Witnesses of the Most High God should. One thing you can be sure of: There will be a lot of witnessing done in those prisons.” No words could have been truer.

CONDUCT GIVES WITNESS

The prison matron singled out special pioneer Alda Vidal Antunes, 55 years of age, for special treatment. When the matron ordered her to embroider a tablecloth for the altar of the Catholic church, Sister Antunes politely made known her reason for refusing but mentioned that she would gladly accept other work. For this she was locked in a chapel for several hours; finally, she was transferred to Tires Prison, supervised by Catholic nuns.

When the Witness arrived, the mother superior tried to force her to attend Mass, but she adamantly refused. The nuns then put her in solitary confinement in a cold cement cell for over a month. The Christian conduct of our sister gradually influenced other prisoners to behave better, with much less shouting and banging on cell doors. Regarding Jehovah’s Witnesses, the mother superior finally admitted: “You know, these people really believe the Bible. Their whole personality seems to be different. When I look at people of my own religion, I see such a contrast.”

While Afonso Costa Mendes, a brother with four children, was in prison, his foreman, who greatly disliked the Witnesses, saw an opportunity to have him fired by submitting an unfavorable report on his work. Brother Mendes had nearly thirty years’ seniority with retirement benefits at stake, but he knew the matter had to be left in Jehovah’s hands. Prison authorities assigned him to work with the social director who observed the brother’s fine conduct. Then, one day near the end of his term, the social director called him into his office. What a surprise to face his factory’s personnel manager who was then told that our brother was an excellent worker, one who merited the finest confidence of any employer! The social director recommended that he be reinstated, with full benefits, to his previous job. This was done.

HARASSMENTS CONTINUE

While the brothers were serving their prison sentences, arrests continued throughout Portugal and Angola.

During this time William Roberts and his wife, Dorothy, had been doing missionary work since 1959 in northern Portugal. The police finally spotted him in the country’s most Catholic city, Braga, during a circuit visit in April 1967. The authorities confiscated their residence papers and shortly afterward this zealous evangelizing couple left Portugal to serve in Ireland.

BORDER RECEPTIONS

The “Disciple-Making” District Assembly for Portugal was held in the summer of 1967 in Marseilles, France. On their return to Portugal in nine chartered buses the brothers were met by an unexpected special reception committee. P.I.D.E. agents, along with customs officials, confiscated some forty cartons of literature on the first six buses that arrived at the frontier near Elvas. When tourists asked what was being confiscated in the dozens of cartons piled high, they could hardly believe their ears when told: “Bibles and Bible literature.”

One alert brother, speaking with a tourist leaving for Spain, remarked: “And this is not all! There are three more buses coming this way with more of the same.” This complete stranger then suggested: “Let me get out of here as quick as I can. Maybe I can stop the other buses and tell them what’s happening.” True to his word, he did so. The precious literature was stored temporarily in a rented room in Badajoz, Spain. Evidence exists showing someone tipped off the authorities about the literature the brothers were bringing back from France.

Isabel Vargas, a good-natured, heavyset sister from Lisbon, tells us how, on another occasion, she managed to keep some of her literature: “The police entered our bus and told us to give them all the Bible literature or they would take it anyway. They stacked it on the seat directly in front of me. My personal Bible, containing notes made over the years, was on top. I just couldn’t resist: When they turned their heads, I took a deep breath and quickly dropped it down the front of my dress. Several other books followed. It went unnoticed that I suddenly became heftier!”

Harsh action was taken against sister Emília Afonso Gonçalves of Lisbon. Although she was born in Spain and married to a Spaniard, her father was Portuguese. She had lived in Lisbon for 40 years. Now this humble widow, 52 years old, received only 48 hours’ notice to leave the country. The Spanish consul in Lisbon was unable to extend this short period and showed her the official notice from the P.I.D.E., which explicitly stated she was being deported for belonging to the “sect of Jehovah’s Witnesses.” On September 16, 1967, she left for Spain.

COURAGEOUS ATTITUDE

Jehovah’s people have nothing to fear when called before the authorities. Rather than cringe and tremble, they display the attitude mentioned at Hebrews 13:6: “So that we may be of good courage and say: ‘Jehovah is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’ “ This is illustrated by the experience of Brother Joaquim Freitas. He had been a Catholic and had a business employing many persons. When he received a summons to appear at P.I.D.E. headquarters, it became obvious the authorities did not know how to begin. What happened is best related by Brother Freitas:

“They were extremely polite and told me it was too bad they had to call me in, since my time was valuable. As they seemed embarrassed to say why they wanted to speak to me, I said, ‘Yes, my time is valuable and so is yours. You gentlemen must certainly want to know something. Perhaps you want to know if I am one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Well, I am! Now is there anything else you would like to know?’

“This straightforward approach broke the ice, so to speak, and they told me how bad the organization was and why I should leave it and become a good Catholic again. I was then granted permission to speak. I told them I had been raised a Catholic and even had a friend who was a priest whom I had seen drunk. I had been immoral, like so many others, but since studying the Bible with the Witnesses, I cleaned up my life and now live as a Christian husband should​—with one wife. So, ‘Gentlemen, I have a question to ask you: Shall I return to being a Catholic or remain one of Jehovah’s Witnesses?’ “ Needless to say, he was quickly dismissed.

CLOSE CALLS

During the summer of 1968 there was to be a district assembly in France. This required several months of preparation, since the entire program, including dramas, had to be translated, rehearsed and taped. The Ruas family had an experience in this regard. Celeste tells what happened:

“We finally finished making the tape of the drama on Jephthah’s daughter, and it was left at our home for the next rehearsal. In the morning, at seven o’clock, the doorbell rang. When we asked ‘Who’s there?’ the callers identified themselves as P.I.D.E. agents. I told them to wait a minute until I got dressed. Having already been visited several times by the police, we had little literature in the home, but I immediately remembered the tape. I hurriedly took it to the kitchen, lifted the top part of the gas stove and slipped the tape underneath, putting the top back into place.

“The police entered and began searching the house from top to bottom, finally coming to the kitchen. They were just finishing their search when our daughter Dina walked in, saying: ‘Mother, I’m going to make some coffee,’ and went off to light the stove. What could I do? If I said anything, the tape would be discovered and confiscated. I had visions of seeing hours and hours of preparation go up in smoke. Happily, our daughter lit the burner on the opposite side! The coffee was made and the police never did find the tape.”

Several days later the P.I.D.E. agents came close to seizing travel documents for 100 convention delegates. Brother Diamantino Fernandes tells what happened:

“Along with my wife and the district overseer, we went to Brother Almeida’s home to deliver complete documentation and funds for two chartered buses. We had just entered the building where he was janitor and placed the envelopes on the entrance table when three P.I.D.E. agents suddenly appeared to search Brother Almeida’s apartment. Two agents went downstairs with Brother Almeida while the third one started to examine the envelopes on the table. We held our breath and prayed to Jehovah to blind his eyes. Without a word, he put the envelopes back on the table and went downstairs to join his fellow agents. As soon as he was out of sight we picked up the precious documents and left. Once again Jehovah’s protection was so manifest.”

Jesus’ instructions to his disciples at Matthew 10:17, “Be on your guard against men; for they will deliver you up,” proves to be wise counsel, as seen from the following experience:

“We planned a ‘picnic’ for the congregation on a holiday, Mother’s Day, since this would be a fine occasion to justify a gathering in the Monsanto woods. We posted guards at strategic points and the brothers brought along their lunch baskets, wine, soccer ball and record player. It was nearing the noon hour. The public talk had been given, and we were on the last paragraphs of the Watchtower Study when our guards gave the danger signal. Everyone went into action, and within a few minutes the lunch baskets were open, wine was being served, the record player was playing and the boys were kicking the soccer ball around. A policeman then appeared. After sizing up the situation, he asked: ‘What’s going on here? Is this a religious meeting of some sort?’ The brother appointed to be spokesman on these occasions replied: ‘You can see for yourself what’s going on here. We’re having a picnic.’ Without a word the policeman left.

“As a precautionary measure an announcement was made to gather up all the literature and Bibles and put them in one of the cars well down the road. No sooner was this done than the policeman returned, accompanied by 15 G.N.R. soldiers, rifles in hand. They carefully searched through the lunch baskets but couldn’t find one piece of literature or even a Bible. With a sour smile the sergeant and his men departed empty-handed, saying: ‘OK, you fooled us this time, but we know what you were doing!’”

CHANGING TIMES

Early in September 1968 Prime Minister Salazar had a stroke. A new government was formed with Professor Marcello Caetano appointed as the president of the council. Salazar remained unaware of the change up until his death in 1970. The transition of power was considerably more peaceful than many had expected.

By early 1969 we observed a definite letup in police interference. When police arrested brothers, they treated them with a marked improvement in politeness and courtesy. One brother had this fact drawn to his attention by a P.I.D.E. agent who said: “Don’t you observe how kindly you are being treated? Are you being abused in any way? Are you not sitting on a comfortable chair?” It was indeed encouraging to see more humane treatment. Reports were even being received indicating police protection, rather than abuse.

One such report tells what happened at a Lisbon meeting when two policemen rang the doorbell about ten o’clock in the evening. When the sister answered the door, they identified themselves, saying they had come to check on a complaint that a meeting was being held. Discreetly the sister replied, “Well, I fully appreciate you are doing your duty, but my husband has given me strict orders never to let in strange men when he is not at home. So I trust you understand my situation. If you would like, I could come to the police station first thing in the morning to answer any questions.” The police accepted her proposal. Next morning she was pleasantly greeted by the policemen. The following conversation developed:

“Good morning. How did your meeting go last night?”

“Very well, thank you,” replied the sister.

“How many were present?”

“Oh, I really don’t know, about twenty-five.”

“No, there were more​—32 to be exact, because we counted them as they came out of the building,” the officer said. He added: “You know, you have some pretty bad neighbors in that building. They are always getting into trouble and complaining about something. Our visit last night was just a routine call because of a complaint. But we have known for some time that meetings are held there. We suggest you tell your people to be as quiet as possible when entering the building, so no one will have reason to complain. It might also be good to use some other homes once in a while.”

Another unprecedented turn of events took place in Vila Nova de Gaia, across the river from Oporto. Two sisters were making one of their last calls before lunch when a housewife accepted the Truth book. Telling the sisters to wait until she got the money, she quickly phoned the police. When the police arrived, it came as unexpected news that she, too, would have to go to the police station. Although she protested, since she was preparing a meal for her husband who would soon be arriving, the police insisted.

At the police station a full report was made about the incident with the householder becoming more and more anxious. The police advised her that this was just the beginning, because if the matter went to court, she could expect to lose a lot more of her time. Distraught, the lady replied: “Oh, my! The only reason I phoned was because our priest said the best way to handle Jehovah’s Witnesses was immediately to call the police. If I had known what I was getting into, I never would have done so!” At the suggestion of the police she most gladly dropped the charges.