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would be likely to ignore such a clear statement of policy, and indeed Governors would certainly wish to be able to shelter behind such a statement when justifying
to local opinion their decisions to commute.
7. There are however, a number of stings in the tail. Such an answer as sketched above could precipitate a question about Hong Kong (why we are not taking action there particularly in view of 1997). In answer to this
we would say:-
"Even if we were to remove the death penalty from the statutes before 1997, it would still be open to
the Government of the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region (SAR) to reinstate it after
1997."
and we could add that:
"The Joint Declaration and Basic Law provide that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will have legislative and independent judicial power, including that of final ajudication."
This line would be used to counter similar criticism in
respect of an OIC.
8. Secondly, the pressure upon a Governor to abide by local wishes ie to execute, would not be removed, and controversy could arise over a decision taken by him which ran counter to the wishes of the local majority.
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