6.
CONFIDENTIAL
(b) The case might be reported in a newspaper
which the relatives and friends did not see;
(c) The case might be reported in a newspaper
printed in a language not known to the
relatives and friends; and
(a) Even if the judgment and sentence were
reported in a newspaper normally read by the
relatives and friends of the accused, they
might miss the item since the date on which
judgment and sentence were to be announced
might not have been known to them and
. It is undoubtedly the case that during the
disturbances of 1967, the courts in Hong Kong had at
times to operate in circumstances of extreme
difficulty.
Indeed, there were occasions when
magistrates had been chased by communist-inspired
}
(e) even if thy sour the reduct in alpaper,
thy Aught the doubtful whether its was a two report.
but aber
itsell
mobs, not only from the courts
lelves, but also"
from the court precincts, The Governor's desire
that all courts should have the sweeping powers
conferred by Sections 122 and 123 is therefore under-
standable. It is because of the special circumstances
obtaining in the colony that efforts have been made to
meet the Governor's wishes as far as can be justified.
that the two sections/
However
is conside:
their present form go too far in embodying into the
permanent law of the eofony provisions which fundoubtedly
depart from certain fundamental principles of British
justice. The two sections are very similar in their
effect and if Section 122 were left in its present
form, as desired by the Governor, it would mean that
any court, when hearing any criminal case except
cases in which the court sought to ensure the safety
or well-being of a witness or any other person (in which case only Section 123 would apply) could exclude the general public (although not the press)
from the whole of the proceedings, including the
announcement of sentence, on the grounds that the
/interests
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN