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CONFIDENTIAL
LORD GORONWY-ROBERTS MEETING WITH THE BRITISH DELEGATION TO THE IPU CONFERENCE IN TOKYO 24 SEPTEMBER 1974
ILLEGAL EMIGRANTS FROM SOUTH VIETNAM
Points to make
1. Amnesty International have made serious allegations about the
atment by the South Vietnamese of the 118 illegal emigrants
repatriated to Saigon.
2. If true, the South Vietnamese have violated assurances given to HMG at the time. On present evidence I have no reason to doubt the
assurances.
3.
I want to get at the truth about these allegations.
4. If the South Vietnamese are willing to co-operate would you be willing to look into this in Saigon and report your findings privately to me?
I am not asking for comments on the South Vietnamese penal system or the general question of political prisoners).
5.
The allegations were:-
(i) that 14 members of the group died after their return to Saigon
from illness and "injuries"
(ii) that 25 men had been sent to front line units without military
training
(iii) that the group was "savagely beaten".
6. You might therefore:-
(a) check the numbers of prisoners held: Allegations (i) and (ii) (b) talk with the prisoners: Allegation (iii).
Publicity
7. Premature publicity will not help. Your report would be for my own information in the first instance. Could we agree that you would not comment publicly on your visit until you had discussed your findings
with me?
8.
Ultimately if it became clear that the assurances given were being broken, HMG would want to take the matter up at once with the South
Vietnamese authorities. If the assurances are being honoured, we shall want to draw on your findings in replying to Amnesty International. 9. I hope that you would agree not to publicise the visit as being at my request as I do not wish to create the impression that I have anything less than full confidence in the assurances that have been given by the South Vietnamese Government.
10. We have already discussed this possibility with the South
CONFIDENTIAL
/Vietnamese
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