Hi
THE TIMES
14 NOV 1968
Cutting dated
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Hongkong denial on, detainees
From Our Correspondent
Hongkong, Nov. 13
The Hongkong Government has strongly rejected any comparison of the case of Mr. Anthony Grey, Reuter's Peking correspondent, who has been held in solitary con- finement for 16 months, with the continued detention without trial of some 30 persons under the colony's emergency regulations.
The Government was replying to allegations of hypocrisy made in a letter to The Times on Monday by Mr., John Rear, an Englishman who lectures in law for Hong- kong University extramural department. The Hongkong Gov- ernment quotes the Chinese Foreign Ministry announcement that Mr. Grey's detention was an act of retaliation for the arrest, trial and imprisonment of com- munist newsmen during last year's disturbances.
The Hongkong authorities go on to point out that the practice of detention without trial in Hong- kong must be seen against the ex- tremist violence which led to the deaths of more than 50 people last year. The Government claims that careful procedures are laid down to ensure scrupulous investigation of the case against detainees and also to ensure that they have an opportunity to appeal.
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The Government claims that it has exercized its powers of deten- tion with the greatest modera- tion ".
"At the height of the trouble a spokesman states, "the maximum number of detainees ever in custody was 54, which com- pares very favourably with similar measures other governments have found it necessary to take when subjected to similar but certainly no more dangerous or violent situations."
ARCHIVES No.31 1 5 NOV 1968
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