S 363
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Queen Anne's Gate London SW1H 9AT
Kevin Cahill Esq
56 Tavistock Place LONDON
WC1 9RG
Direct line 071-273 Switchboard 071-273 3000
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Date
March 1992
I have been asked to reply to your letters of 16 January to the Prime Minister, Mr Baker, Mrs Rumbold and Mr Heseltine.
Since you wrote, as you are no doubt aware, on 27 January Mr Osman lodged a further application for habeas corpus, in which judgement was given by the Divisional Court on 28 February, dismissing his application. This was the seventh such application brought by Mr Osman. As Lord Justice Woolf indicated, in giving judgement on the previous such application, the effect of these applications
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"has been that there can have been no question, over the period those applications covered, of the Secretary of State being able to exercise his powers to return the applicant to Hong Kong. He added, "there is no doubt it is deeply disturbing that after this period of time, after Mr Osman has been in custody in prison in this country for far too long, it should still be uncertain whether he is to be returned to Hong Kong. However, when you look at the history ... it appears clear to me that this is a situation that Mr Osman has brought upon himself by his own actions, as the result of a deliberate course of conduct upon which he has embarked designed to use the machinery of this court and other courts as a way of preventing his return to Hong Kong.
It appears to me that this is a situation where he has embarked upon a war of attrition designed to wear down the Hong Kong Government so as to prevent his return. have no doubt whatsoever that when the present application is considered in the context of previous applications it is indeed an abuse of process of the court. It is using the machinery of the court for purposes for which it should not be used".
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He concluded by giving firm directions that any future application by Mr Osman should be heard with very great expedition. He confirmed those directions on 31 January 1992 in respect of the seventh habeas corpus application.