CODE 18-77
S$ 10/76
CONFIDENTIAL
118
Reference RR380/1
Mr Levoir Hong Kong & General Dept.
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.
1.
In Mr Bannerman's absence on leave, I am replying to your minute of 17 August. The attached table gives such information as we have readily available on executions in the Commonwealth countries you listed. We are still looking into the cases of Australia and New Zealand and will let you have any information we can discover in due course.
2. Details of appeals to The Queen from Commonwealth countries where she is Head of State are scarce. This is because the Prerogative of Mercy has been delegated to the Governor General, who acts on the advice of local Ministers. Our Secretary of State would not be involved in what is essentially a domestic issue. Indeed, his involvement would probably be construed as improper interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country. For this reason, we would be unlikely to have any record of an appeal to The Queen for mercy unless the case was a cause celebre.
3. As regards those territories which were still dependencies in November 1965, but have subsequently become independent, we can only establish whether any appeals were made prior to independence by consulting Library Reference and examining the files, and this would take some time. There is one possible instance that comes to mind: the Nairn Case (Bahamas 1968/9) but unfortunately I am not familiar with the details of what exactly happened. (You are no doubt aware of the Tsoi case in the colony of Hong Kong in May 1973).
Robi
D).
RD Lamb
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Research Department
Þ.
23 August 1977
нка 380/1
RECEIVED "TA NO. 51 3 1 AUG 1977
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Action Taken
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CONFIDENTIAL
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