CONFIDENTIAL
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS RETURNED FROM HONG KONG TO SOUTH VIETNAM
1.
The original group of 119 were arrested in Hong Kong waters
on 2 June. One man who claimed to have been born in Hong Kong was allowed to stay in the Colony. The remaining 118 were returned to Saigon on 17 June.
2.
Their return followed assurances by the South Vietnamese
Government that they would not be harshly treated. Precise terms
of these assurances are appended.
3.
After the 118 had been repatriated, it was found that one (Truong Hong, who had given a false name in Hong Kong) had
previously been condemned to death on smuggling charges. He has
since been re-tried and sentenced instead to hard labour for life.
4.
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The remaining 117 were sent to Con Son Island. Our Embassy
in Saigon reported on 19 July that they had returned to Saigon.
We do not know precisely how long they were at Con Son. On
23 July the Embassy further reported that the whole 117 had been interrogated by the Vietnamese authorities and that a total of 27, comprising women, children and old people, had been released. The children (at least 7, but we do not know the exact number) were
released unconditionally, but the women and the elderly will have to report later for trial. As at 23 July, 90 adults awaited trial in prison: 87 men were held in Chi Hoa Prison in Saigon, and
3 women were in Thu Duc Women's Prison just outside Saigon.
5.
On 30 July, following representations from H M Ambassador
in Saigon concerning the validity of the assurances given to the British and Hong Kong Governments before the 118 were repatriated,
the Vietnamese Government issued the following statement:
"The British Ambassador called to express his
Government's concern about the apparently conflicting press reports of the assurances given to the British and Hong Kong Governments about the 118 illegal immigrants
repatriated from Hong Kong.
"The Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic
of Vietnam reaffirmed to the British Ambassador in the
Republic of Vietnam what he had already informed the
Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
in London, Mr Hattersley: namely that the 118 illegal
emigrants who had been repatriated from Hong Kong are being treated fairly and will be tried in open court in
CONFIDENTIAL
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