2600027 C.S. 20 A
From the Governor, Hong Kong
To the Secretary of State for Xbexxxs
Repeated to:-
FURL..
CONFIDENTIAL
SAVINGRAM
Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
epeated to:-
ate.........
31 DEC 1968
December, 1968,
My Reference.
SCR L/M 27/68
PATIOME DES
Your Reference.
HWA-/18/7
LAST
Your saving despatch No.
The "Concentration Camp"
HIWA 1/18
598:
No.
No.
No.
1736
118
RECORTO IN ARCHIVES
0.31
- 1 JAN 1969
HKK 1/12
Mrs. Elsie Elliott
referred to in the "Letter of
Protest" is in fact the Victoria Road Detention Centre.
2.
The persons detained (originally 52, now 12) are all individuals who instigated or directed or took part in the 1967 Communist attempt to overthrow the authority of the Hong Kong Government and to intimidate the population to this end.
Part C
८
3.
The "Letter of Protest" is a Communist document, published in the main Chinese Communist newspapers in Hong Kong on 11th May 1968, and later in English as a supplement to the English edition of the Communist Ta Kung Pao on 5th September. It was clearly written for propaganda purposes and was designed to vilify the Hong Kong Government and the Hong Kong Police Force. Mrs. Elliott however seems prepared to accept it as impartial, objective comment.
4.
Mrs. Elliott sought but was refused permission to visit the Detention Centre in August this year, on the ground that adequate arrangements already existed for regular visits by Justices of the Peace to the Centre.
5.
As you say, the Hong Kong representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mr. Hans Hefti, visited the Centre in May this year and reported in generally favourable terms to his Headquarters in Geneva. The only point raised by the I.C.R.C. about conditions in the Centre was the unsatisfactory nature of certain inside cells, on which they pointed out that they were not consistent with the "Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Detained Delinquents" adopted on August 30th, 1955, by the First United Nations Congress for the Prevention of Crime and on the Treatment of Delinquents. We informed Mr. Hefti in July that consideration was being given to improving these cells, and work on the necessary changes will begin this month. With Mr. Hefti's and his Headquarters' agreement, I enclose a copy of his report, dated 13th May, to I.C.R.C. in Geneva (on his first 116/6/11
16// visit to the Centre, together with copies of his letter of
25th June, 1968, to the Colonial Secretary and the latter's reply 116/6/ of 8th July, 1968.
Mofefi
6.
As to the various allegations in the "Letter of Protest" about the treatment of detainees, Mr. Johnson can be assured that there are absolutely no grounds for the allegations of maltreatment. The Centre is very strictly controlled and supervised; it is visited daily by a Gazetted Police Officer, at irregular intervals by senior Gazetted Officers, and once a month by a Justice of the Peace. When the I.C.R.C. representative made his visit no
CONFIDENTIAL
/detainee