14-JUL ̈1550"
布政司署
浩下亞里畢道
MONI
DEARK
ON
7.32
Security Branch,
GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT
LOWER ALBERT ROAD HONG KONG
Our Ref.: TSR 1/90
* Your Ref.. TG ASA 19/90.7
Christopher L. Avery Esq., Amnesty Internationai, International Secretariat,
1 Easton Street,
London
UK
WC1X 3DJ
HKB OII
¡ECEIVED IN S
13 July, 1990
-Y
31 JUL 1990
G
Mr Stone
15
33
Dear Mr. Avery
9
K
Thank you for your faxed letter of 10 July to which the Governor has asked me to respond. I cannot accept your assertion that any of those to whom you refer might merit designation as "prisoners of conscience" Such a statement in the present context devalues the term itself. I must also point out a number of inaccuracies and unfounded allegations contained in your letter.
•
First, you are wrongly advised that no warning or indication was given by the police to the leaders of the demonstration. Every one of those summonsed was warned repeatedly by the police at the scene of the alleged offences that they risked prosecution if they persisted in the actions they were taking. They chose to ignore the warnings.
Your
Secondly, I must reject the allegation that this action was politically motivated. The timing of the prosecution is a result solely of the summons process. suggestion that the Political Adviser's letter to the New China News Agency represented a hidden understanding with the People's Republic of China to muzzle free expression in Hong Kong is untrue. The Hong Kong Government's position on this issue has been stated publicly many times and is well known. We do not tolerate illegal activities, but, as the many public demonstrations which occur will attest, Hong Kong people enjoy to the full freedom of expression and assembly, within the law.