Jesús knew that other Christian neutrals had also taken their stand and earnestly prayed that one of these brothers might be assigned to his prison. After four years of virtual isolation, his prayers were answered, for Alberto Contijoch was sent there. The two of them studied together and also preached more openly in the prison. In fact, they prepared their own “third” edition of the Bible textbook “Let God Be True.” The new arrival did the writing, as he could better remember the book’s contents, whereas Jesús did the correcting and adapting of the material.

Later, in 1961, a third Christian neutral, Francisco Díaz Moreno, was assigned to Ocaña prison. The three young men managed to acquire a copy of the booklet “This Good News of the Kingdom,” and Jesús was able to prepare additional copies, using the typewriter in the office where he worked. At one time, they were conducting fifteen Bible studies with fellow inmates.

These Christian neutrals had such a yearning for new Bible literature that risks were taken to obtain it.

Unquestionably, there were various ways to maintain spiritual health. The four Christian neutrals now in Ocaña prison had some magazines and other literature. However, all their reading had to be done secretly and the literature had to be hidden. For that purpose, they had a chess set and used to hide the literature in the false bottom of the chessboard.

MEETINGS HELD WITH CAUTION

The four Christian neutrals at Ocaña prison were fully aware of the need to meet together for Bible study. (Heb. 10:24, 25) Finally, therefore, they arranged to have meetings every week, although they held them with extreme caution.

In Ocaña prison the beds were two-tier bunks arranged in parallel rows, with about eighty prisoners to each hall. The four Witnesses occupied two sets, side by side. So, while one of them was lying on top, listening and keeping an eye open for the guards, the other three sat below on the bottom beds, doing their best to present their parts on the program. With all the noise from the other prisoners, as well as the music or football match emanating from the loudspeaker above their heads, it was no easy task to discuss Scriptural matters. But these young men succeeded in doing so, even celebrating the Memorial of Jesus Christ’s death under such circumstances during 1962.

FREEDOM AT LAST​—FOR ONE

By the summer of 1964, Jesús Martín once again was alone in Ocaña, as the other three Christian neutrals had left in 1963. Francisco Díaz Moreno had finished one sentence and now had to present himself again, this time at El Aaiún, in the Spanish Sahara. Antonio Sánchez and Alberto Contijoch had similar experiences. However, before going their separate ways, they had decided on a new tactic. All four would request conditional liberty. In cases of good conduct, this allowed three months of freedom for each year served in prison.

The result of this effort was that three requests were rejected. But the petition of Jesús Martín was approved. He would be granted twenty-five months of provisional liberty and then would have to present himself again to the military authorities. So it was that in August 1964 Jesús stepped out of prison after having completed six years and six months of his sentence. For some reason he never was called up again.

UNBAPTIZED INTEGRITY-KEEPER

After a year in Ocaña, Francisco Díaz Moreno had terminated his second sentence, and in January 1964 he was temporarily free for two months, awaiting his third court-martial. He used that time to build himself up spiritually, before going on to the Sahara. By April 1964, Francisco had been transported to a punishment camp called La Sagia, deeper in the desert. Alberto Contijoch and Juan Rodríguez already were there.

While Francisco, Alberto and Juan were at La Sagia awaiting their transfer to El Aaiún, they decided that they would baptize Juan in one of the wells outside the camp. Then, all permission to leave the camp was refused. So how were they going to perform the baptism in this drought-ridden desert? Well, in the camp there was a big covered water deposit, with two apertures for filling it and taking water out by bucket. But it had only fifteen centimeters (6 inches) of water in it.

On the night of April 19, 1964, however, the three young men already were in their tents when they heard the water relief truck arrive. Yes, the water tank was being filled​—with enough water to drown a person. You guessed it! After a brief Scriptural discussion the three slipped silently across the sand to the water tank and Juan Rodríguez was baptized.

ENDURING IN EL AAIUN

Eventually, after varied experiences such as a period of incarceration at Hausa, an even more remote outpost in the desert, four Christian neutrals​—Alberto Contijoch, Francisco Díaz Moreno, Antonio Sánchez Medina and Juan Rodríguez—​found themselves imprisoned in El Aaiún. There conditions were quite restrictive, for the prison was a rectangular building with the cell doors facing outward toward the prison wall that was covered with barbed wire and glass fragments. At each corner of the wall there was a platform for the guards, who were on duty with automatic rifles. The cells were small, two by three meters (6.5 by 10 feet), and each one had two or three occupants. Exercise periods lasted only one hour each morning and each afternoon. But the heat was easier to bear than at other desert locations because this prison was situated only about twenty-five kilometers (15 miles) from the sea and that helped to ameliorate the climate.