TNAG-0109-FCO40-145-Detainees-and-prisoners-following-19671968-disturbances-1968 — Page 164

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21,60.68.

CONFIDENT IAL

NOTES ON ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION WITH THE

GOVERNOR OF HONG KONG :

22-23 OCTOBER, 1968

DETAINEES AND CONVICTED PRISONERS

Of the various "demands" which the Chinese made at the time of confrontation last year, the one to which they have attached the most importance and which might in consequence be considered to contribute most significantly to an easing in Sino-British relations is the release of persons detained under Emergency Powers and serving sentences of imprisonment after conviction by the courts for offences connected with the communist campaign of confrontation.

2.

At 20 June fifty-two persons were held in detention in Hong Kong under Emergency Regulations. They were a mixed bag of active communist supporters - trade union members and officials and others prominent in organising both the violent and non-violent aspects of confrontation, against whom it was not possible to produce evidence that would stand up in a court of law. Eighteen detainees have been released since June. Before long releases will reduce the detainees to a hard core of militant communists and it may not be possible to contemplate releases on the same scale of recent months.

3. Some 1,500 persons were sentenced by the courts to imprisonment for offences arising out of confrontation. All those convicted on relatively minor charges have since been released. There remain several hundred serving sentences for violent crimes or other offences which cannot be lightly condoned.

4. The Chinese probably do not differentiate between detainees and convicted prisoners, as they regard both as having been

illegally" detained. From our point of view, however, the release of detainees is a much easier proposition in that they are held under administrative procedures and can be released, by executive decision, at any time. They are normally held under warrants valid for twelve months which can, if necessary, be renewed. The release of convicted prisoners on the other hand raises awkward problems of amnesty and interference with the administration of justice.

5. It is in the field of detainees therefore that the Governor has felt able to make releases as gestures designed to contribute to "de-escalation" in Hong Kong and an easing in Sino-British relations generally. But the Governor has been understandably reluctant to release convicted prisoners except under the normal provisions of the law e.g. under the rules applying to ordinary remission of sentences and to the premature release of juveniles on probation or to reformatory institutions. This problem has come to the fore in connection with the possibility of exchanging Grey, the Reuter correspondent detained in Peking, for one or both of the NCNA journalists serving sentences in Hong Kong. The

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CONFIDENTIAL

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