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CONFIDENTIAL
A
telno 150. The Governor does not give specific details, but I
understand that the case relates to the murder of two expatriate
children in 1986. The unofficial members of Exco have abstained from advising on a suitable sentence if the Governor decides to commute the death sentence in this case. They say they cinot in good conscience recommend any alternative to the death sentence. At the same time they do not wish to put the Governor in a constitutionally difficult position by the advice they offer. Official Exco members, with one exception, have similarly abstained
from offering advice.
4.
The Governor is not asking for a formal review of HMG's
position. There is no indication that Exco wish to make an issue of this case. Nor are we aware of any evidence that a public outcry is likely should the Governor decide to commute the death
sentence.
5. The death penalty still exists in Hong Kong and public opinion there is generally strongly in favour of its application. But although convictions on capital charges occur regularly, no death
sentence has been carried out since 1966. In 1973, the then Secretary of State (Sir Alec Douglas Home) intervened to prevent an execution in Hong Kong. In 1975 the Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong made a statement in the Legislative Council to the effect that the Secretary of State could not recommend to The Queen that a plea for clemency from Hong Kong should be rejected while feeling in the House of Commons was against capital punishment. Since then the Governor in Council has always commuted death penalties, although with some reluctance displayed by the unofficial members of Exco.
6.
The Secretary of State may recall a similar case in 1984, when the majority of unofficial members of Exco felt so strongly about the case that they abstained from giving advice. The Governor reminded the Council that the attitude of Parliament to capital punishment had not changed. The Secretary of State endorsed this approach. In the event, the Governor's decision to commute the death sentence provoked very little public comment.
CONF IDENTIAL
17. The