CHINA MAIL.
JUNE 15th 73.
UK bid to stop anti- crime laws
BRITAIN'S
former Lord Chancellor, Lord Gardiner, has asked Foreign Secretary Sir Alec Douglas-Home to intervene to stop Hongkong pushing through its four controversial anti-crime laws.
And I understand Government here has already had a change of heart and plans to drop one of the laws, which increases the powers of magistrates
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY NO.51
28 JU 35
courts.
It is also thought that Government is likely to agree to modify another of the laws, which brings in preventive detention for "habitual criminals."
Lord Gardiner is believed to have written to the Foreign Secretary in his capacity as Chairman of Justice, the British section of the International Commission of Jurists which has a great deal of prestige and influence in Britain.
OFFENCE
It was sent earlier this month after JUSTICE received a strongly-worded letter from the organisation's Hongkong chairman Henry Litton QC.
Mr Litton's letter is believed to have roundly condemned the four Bills. particularly the two which seek to increase the sentencing powers of district court judges from five to seven years, and specially-appointed principal magistrates from three to five years.
Mr Litton. and other top lawyers here, are deeply concerned that defendants would, under the Bills. be liable to such heavy jail sentences without the benefit of a jury hearing or legal aid.
A defendant has no right to a trial by jury in either a magistrates or district court, and his offence has to carry a maximum penalty of 14 years" imprisonment or more before he can claim legal aid.
Lord Gardiner's letter, I am taid, protested to Sir Alec that the proposed Bills will seriously erode the rule of law in Hongkong.
It added: They will create a situation far below the standards which are universally recognised here and be quite irreconcilable with current international thought.
PUSHED
The Jetter is thought to have warned that the new laws would not advance Hongkong's aim to combat violent crime and drawn Sir Alec's attention to the existing defects in the judicial system here.
Our immediate aim is to seek your assistance in ensurine that this iegislation is not pushed through the Legislative Council without full and› exhaustive examinations and without serious debate. I understand the letter continued.
Lord Gardiner then asked the Foreign Secretary if he would receive a delegation from Justice for an urgent discussion on the issue.
The Queen, acting on the advice of the British Government, has powers to instruct the Governor Sir Murray MacLehose not to sanction Bills passed by Legco.
The powers are laid out in Articles 10 and 11 of the Letters Patent of Hongkong.
The four Bills have already had the first of their three readings in Legco.
OFFICIAL
Apart from the district and magistrates courts and preventive detention measures, there is a law to give courts wider powers to deal with people convicted of carrying offensive weapons.
no
Although there has been official announcement by the Government, I have learned that the Magistrates (Amendment) Bill, which gives the Chief Justice power to appoint principal magistrates who would be able to pass the new increased jail sentences, is almost certain to be dropped.
1
It is also understood that, as a sop to its critics, the Government will announce that the new powers of the district courts will come under review after two years.
BATTLE
But it is doubtful whether this
' protest.
will be enough to stem the flow of
A tough battle still looms over the distri courts issue, as those. who have protested over the Bill- will not be satisfied with anything less than trial by jury in these
courts.
However, with the new London move, coupled with the fact that the Bills are being debated at length among top legal and Government circles in Britain. there is a strong possibility that more concessions are on the way.
Asked to confirm that Lord Gardiner had written to the Foreign Secretary on behalf of the Hongkong branch of Justice, Mr Litton declined to comment.