CONFIDENTIAL
Hw
TOY CODY
Cypher/Cat.A.
IMMEDIATE
HONG KONG TO COMMONWEALTH OFFICE
elno. 1394 15 September, 1967.
CONFIDENTIAL
بار آر۵)
71
On 13 September, Pun Tak-sing, Vice Editor-in-Chief of the local NCNA office, telephoned the Assistant Political Adviser to protest at what he termed the beating up and injuring on 11 September by Prison Warder No. 869 of the NCNA correspondent Hsueh Ping who is serving a two-year prison sentence (see my telegram No. 430 of 20 July to Peking). Pun demanded that the culprit be punished and that we guarantee ne recurrence of such action, drew our attention to the Foreign Ministry's statement regarding patriotic journalists in Hong Kong and said that the Foreign Ministry would be informed of this matter.
He was promised an enquiry into his allegation.
2. Pun's tone was firm but not hostile.
30 Our preliminary enquiries reveal that on 11 September there was an incident involving Hsueh Ping, during which his cell door was shut smartly upon him by the warder in question. Ping lodged a complaint that he had been punched in the chest and
He "slightly burt" when his arm was sqeezed in the cell door. was medically examined and no evidence of external injury was discovered. It appears that the incident was provoked by Hsueh and that his complaint is groundless. (It is probably
not a coincidence that the incident occurred the day before he was due to receive the monthly visit from his wife.)
14.0
The channel for this protest is unusual. In the past the NCNA have normally discussed matters of this sort with Special Branch; although the Assistant Political Adviser spoke to Pun last month about the possibility of exchanging visits to Hsueh Ping and Grey in Peking, it is perhaps significant that no mention of the prison incident has yet appeared in the Communist Press here although on 14 September they printed a protest by the Director of the NCNA office at the sentencing of another NCNA journalist (see my telegram No. 1384).
O.A.G. Sent 10142 15 September.
Read, 1025Z 15 September.
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