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RECEIVER
2 7 AUG 1987
PA
The Rt. Hon. The Lord Glenarthur,
Minister of State,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office,
London.
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10th August 1987.
Dear Lord Glenarthur,
Hong Kong.Status of Prisoners in 1997.
As you are aware I have recently visited Hong Kong. The visit
was primarily about commercial matters, but the International
body of the Liberal Party is soon to devote most of an entire
annual gathering to human rights. In the case of Hong Kong there
may yet arise a very serious difficulty in connection with which
the UK may yet be held responsible for failing to take adaquate
steps in the negotiations, in order to protect the rights of
prisoners transferred to the PRC in 1997.
The issue affects,not only those who will be transferred to
the custody of the PRC on 30th June 1997, but also the status
of those prisoners which may be returned from the UK to Hong
Kong in the interim period.
governs the
I note that the law currently in force which
return of fugitives to Commonwealth territories is the Fugitive
Offenders Act 1967 and I note that this act provides for certain
guarantees and I refer in particular to the principle of
'speciality' and non surrender of a person who stands in danger
of the death penalty.
The arrangements currently in force in Hong Kong as regards
the return of fugitive offenders to and from the territory cannot
subsist in their present form beyond the resumption of
sovereignty in 1997 and the establishment of the HK Special Administrative Region.
The future HK SAR Government will determine it
i ü
own policies
under the Basic Law whose drafting is a matter for the Chinese
Government and, which, under the Chinese Constitution will, like
The Earl of Winchilsea & Nottingham, Liberal Peers Room, House of Lords, Westminster, London SWIA OPW
Telephone: 01- 219 3179 Assistant: Kevin Cahill 01- 833 3086
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