amnesty international
OFFICE
FOREIGN
AND
COMMONWEALTH
30 NOV 1977
ALLDORTION SECTION
1977
Prisoners of Conscience Year
Amnesty International British Section
Tower House
235
8-14 Southampton Street London WC2E 7HF Telephone 01-836 5621 Telegrams Amnesty London
The Rt Hon Dr David Owen MP
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Whitehall
London
SW1
Dear Dr. Owen,
RE
HKC 386/1
- 8 DEC 1977
125K OFFICE
INDEX
No
(PK
9. 51
REGISTRY Action Taken
все
29 November 1977
HUSD for ment draft
15/ reply fus/s cats/bord
15 / Lord - Roberts 1- B/M Rauland Mr Stephan In Stratton
Legal Aduters
Soull 30/
I am writing to you in connection with the imminent execution of the two Bermudian citizens, Erskine Burrows and Larry Winfield Tacklyn.
From a conversation with your office yesterday, I understand that there is no constitutional way in which HMG or Her Majesty the Queen can bring about a reprieve for these two men. I am therefore appealing to you to exert whatever influence you can, perhaps through the Acting Governor, to bring about the commutation of these sentences on humanitarian grounds.
On the subject of capital punishment, you may know that Amnesty International, which opposes the death penalty in all cases, is about to launch a major one-year campaign on this issue. Our campaign will be launched at an international conference on the subject in Stockholm on 10th and 11th December. We would naturally hope that HMG, having abolished the death penalty for all practical purposes, will support us in every way possible in our campaign. Needless to say, a successful, persuasive intervention in the present case would be an encouraging precedent for a year in which we hope world attention will focus increasingly on the inhumanity of capital punishment.
Yeux
Pricerely
Sand Suissan
David Simpson Director
See (284
Chairman: Paul Oestreicher Director: David Simpson
British patrons of Amnesty International:
The Archbishop of Canterbury Yehudi Menuhin
British sponsor of the year: Dame Peggy Ashcroft The Lord Avebury Professor Ralf Dahrendorf The Lord Gardiner The Rev. Dr. John Huxtable
Cardinal Hume Sir Keith Joseph, MP Henry Moore Lionel Murray Sir Roland Penrose
The Chief Rabbi
The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church
of Scotland
Professor Harminder Singh
The Lord Soper
The Bishop of Stepney
The Rt. Hon. Jeremy Thorpe, MP Sir Harold Wilson, MP
Amnesty International has consultative status with the United Nations (ECOSOC), UNESCO, the Council of Europe, the Organisation of American States, and is recognised by the Organisation of African Unity