HKIOD
Death Penalty: Further Action
I have informed Mr. Acland on the telephone of the decision about life imprisonment for Tsoi and that all the procedures arranged for yesterday went through according to plan.
2. Clearly the next stage is to see how the public in Hong Kong react. This will influence recommendations to the Secretary of State about future policy.
3.
The first thing that we need to know is how much time we have to come to a decision about future policy. I should be grateful if you could submit all information relevant to future cases: how many there are, what kind of cases they are, what stage they have reached in Hong Kong and when they are likely to come to The Queen. I imagine that you will consult the Governor if we do not have all the relevant information here.
4. We also need to know what cases are pending in other dependent territories. Could Gibraltar and General Department therefore contribute all the relevant information on this point, consulting Governors as necessary.
5.
It will be helpful to know how much time we have available by the time the Secretary of State gets back this weekend. We should bear in mind that the Secretary of State will be out of London almost the entire time until 18 June.
6. Having established the time scale, I should be grateful if you could draw up a short paper setting out the options for future policy both in respect of Hong Kong and the other dependent territories where the death penalty is maintained. Some of these have already been discussed in the Tsoi case but could you include all possibilities. Two that have been mentioned recently are the possibility of reaching an agreement with the Opposition Front Bench not to raise difficulties over the death penalty in dependent territories and the possibility of removing the right of appeal for mercy to The Queen. If it is possible to have the outline of a paper by Friday for the weekend box that would be helpful.
Copied to:
PS/Mr. Royle PS/PUS Mr. Wilford
Sir D. Watson G & G Dept.
PKorattun
(P.H. Grattan) 15 May, 1973