CONFIDENTIAL
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The Death Penalty in the Dependent Territories
You will wish to consider this draft paper carefully.
It has been seen by Mr. Royle.
2. I subsequently suggested that it be specific about the
point which Sir E. Leather raised with you and it would of course be helpful if Ministers agreed that the law should
be allowed to take its course in those territories where
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there is an elected Legislature. The last sentence of
paragraph 2 deals with this point.
3. You will see that the paper makes no recommendation
about Hong Kong. I am in no position to judge Parliamentary
feeling and there are sharply divergent views about it but
I wonder whether paragraph 3 of the draft is right in suggesting
that the feeling arcused by the Tsoi case was abnormal
because of the coincidence with the debates on the death
penalty in general and with respect to Northern Ireland. This obviously focussed attention on the Tsoi case but now
that that has happened I would have thought you are likely
to be faced with the same sort of ground-swell whenever a
case/
CONFIDENTIAL