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the suggestion which I made to you and to the Governor of Hongkong that these persons were treated as a group and not as individual people with individual rights.
The reports which we have received come from relatives of the deportees both in Saigon and in Hongkong and from reputable international non-governmental organisations with offices in both cities. We have also received reports and eye witness accounts of brutal assaults on many of the deportees and the British Ambassador in Saigon provided a possible reason for such assaults and illtreatment in so far as he suggested I imagine in private
that there was corruption in high places related to illegal immigration from South Vietnam.
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I realise that it is diplomatically difficult for Her Majesty's representative to imply that assurances given by the Saigon Government in respect of the deportees have been invalidated. Nevertheless if assurances are to be worth anything it must be possible to verify that they are being maintained and respected by the government who gave them.
If the information on which we based our initial statement is wrong, then it would be easy to provide the proof by allowing independent observers such as the British Ambassador or Mr. Sanginetti to visit those detained and report that he was satisfied that each and every one of them was alive and well and without traces of any illtreatment. It seems that the South Vienamese Government was not willing to allow Mr. Sanginetti to meet any of the deportees and that the British Government has not been willing to date to request such a solution.
I know the South Vietnamese Government has indignantly denied our allegations but denials are certainly not proof and the reputation of the South Vietnamese Government for their treatment of prisoners and conscientious objectors is such that only independent enquiries can satisfy international opinion that those who were deported from Hongkong with the approval of Her Majesty's Government have been treated in accordance with the normal rules.
I very much hope that you can prove us wrong. Regrettably I have no indication yet that we are.
Yours sincerely,
любя
Martin Ennals
Secretary General