CONFIDENTIAL
4K B 380
11
Mr Beamish
/
parylly
Momarosan W/13/1
FROM: R J T McLaren
cc:
W37 270 2156
5 July 1990
Mr Gorham, WIAD
Mr Paul, HKD
Mr Butt, Policy Planning
Staff
Mr Chamberlain, Legal
Advisers
Mr Fifoot, Legal
Advisers
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN THE DEPENDENT TERRITORIES
1.
10
You should see Mr Paul's minute of 4 July commenting on Mr Gorham's minute of 29 June covering a draft minute to the Home Secretary recommending the addition of a clause to the Criminal Justice Bill providing for the abolition of the death penalty in dependent territories.
2. Mr Paul is right to draw attention to the implications for Hong Kong. The Governor will no doubt spell them out in response to the telegram which Mr Paul proposes to send him. In the meantime it may be helpful to set out some of the considerations as I see them (I do not have a copy of WIAD's
draft submission):
i Public opinion in Hong Kong is still in favour of the
death penalty, the approach of 1997 notwithstanding. Sir D Wilson told us that there was no public outcry in the Territory following the recent execution in Malaysia of six Hong Kong people convicted on drugs charges.
ii There have been no executions in Hong Kong since the late sixties. Though death sentences are regularly handed down by the courts they are invariably commuted by the Governor. This is a consequence of Ministerial decisions (1973) in the early seventies. (Mr Paul can explain the
background.) When a particularly horrific case occurred some 18 months ago, the then Secretary of State (Sir G Howe) confirmed, in response to a request from the Governor, that the policy remained unchanged.
iii There is thus no need for particular action in respect of Hong Kong now, though there is a question whether the Creech-Jones doctrine will come into play when the majority of Hong Kong's Legislative Council are elected by one means or another in 1991.
CONFIDENTIAL