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LORD GORONWY-ROBERTS
DEATH PENALTY HONG KONG
1.
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY No.51
N JUN 1974
PRKIY
82
At our meeting on 23 May it was agreed to submit a further paper which might be considered by the Secretary of State. 2.
The position on the death penalty in the Dependent Territories is described in the Background Note which was submitted to the Secretary of State on 3 April. Briefly, Hong Kong is only one of a number of Dependent Territories where the death penalty still exists, just as it does in the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. Hitherto, in regard to the exercise of the Prerogative of Mercy, successive Governments have followed the policy first laid down by Mr Creech Jones in 1947. This is that, where the Governor has decided, in accordance with the Constitution, that the law must take its course, then, in the event of a further petition to The Queen, the Secretary of Stalo would always advise Her Majesty not to intervene, except in tho very rare case of an evident miscarriage of justice. This principle was breached for Hong Kong in 1973 in the case of Troi, in the special circumstances where the decision coincided with debates in Parliament on the death penalty in general and in Northern Ireland. It remains undisturbed in the other Dependent Territories, where occasional executions continue to be carried out.
3.
I discussed the problem with the Governor during my recent visit to Hong Kong. Since the Tsoi case, the Governor han contrived to hold the position through the informal understanding, described in my minute of 26 March, whereby his Executive Council agreed to acquiesce for the forescoable future in decision to reprieve those sentenced to death in Hong Kong. This han relieved HMG for the time being of the need to face very di Club policy decisions. But the arrangement is clearly a tenuous one. The Governor told me that he had had a very rough ride in considering two recent cases, in one of which he was advised (rud we had previously agreed) that there were no mitigating factors, before Executive Council eventually agreed to reprieve. And public feeling in the Colony is strongly and increasingly restive over what is described as the suspension of the death penalty.
SECRET
14.