CO129-535-3 Nguyen ai Quoc- request for extradition to Indo-China by French authorities 29-6-1931 - 26-1-1932 — Page 61

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No. Inly remét muggestion from

These 946

permission to leave Hongkong in his own way.

The position is that the Governor of Hongkong

on his own initiative, and not as the result of

any suggestion from us has issued a deportation

order under which Quoc could have been sent to

Saigon and this order has now been upheld by the

Hongkong courts, subject to an appeal to the

Privy Council. If the decision had been the other

way, we could very well have told the French that

we were not prepared to take the case to the Privy

Council, and that the decision of the courts made

it impossible for us to comply with their wishes.

It is difficult, however, to take this line when

the legal situation is that the man will go to

Saigon unless he can persuade the Privy Council to

reverse the decision of the Hongkong courts.

hat seems to be at the back of everyone's

mind in this discussion is the idea that if Quoc

is sent to French territory he will be executed.

This idea apparently comes entirely from Quoc

himself, (see Hongkong telegram No. 155), and we

do not know whether there is any foundation for it

or not. If, however, quoc has committed a crime

/for