CONFIDENTIAL COVERING SECRET
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(40)
Mr Stapley
PS/Mr Rowlands
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN THE DEPENDENT TERRITORIES
1. I attach, as requested by PS/Mr Rowlands, a draft minute from the Secretary of State to his DOP colleagues.
2. Recent developments in Bermuda and Belize will call for a rewriting of paragraph 1 of Mr Rowlands' unsigned minute of 27 June.
I suggest that it might be reworded as follows:
3.
"1.
Sentences of death have been passed on two men in Bermuda
and one in Belize. The local Prerogative of Mercy Committee
in Bermuda have advised that the law should take its course
and the Acting Governor has accepted this advice. We | understand, however, that petitions for mercy will be made
unier STAND to HM The Queen. In the Belize case we are informed that
the local Committee may now advise the Governor to exercise the Prerogative of Mercy."
"
The Department's Legal Adviser concurs.
30 June 1977
C.A.B. Slaunt.
ß
J A B Stewart
Hong Kong & General Dept
Cc:
Mr Cortazzi Mr Bickford
1. Smiley 30
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