TNAG-0112-FCO40-148-Detainees-and-prisoners-following-19671968-disturbances-1969 — Page 211

Mr. Carter

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Ne. George Thomson

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A reply is outstanding to the attached letter from Mr. James Johnson, M.P., to Lord Shepherd on the

Victoria Road Detention Centre in Hong Kong. Lord Shepherd sent an interim reply to Mr. Johnson on 18th October informing him that he was consulting the Governor about the matters raised by Mrs. Elliott. This was done, and we have now received the Governor's comments.

2.

The "Letter of Protest" forwarded by Mrs. Elliott to Mr. Johnson is a Communist document, the contents of which for the most part are sheer fiction.

3.

When we referred this matter to the Governor for his comments, we asked if there would be any objection to making available to Mr. Johnson any relevant comment contained in a report made by Mr. Hefti (representative in Hong Kong of the International Committee of the Red Cross), who visited the Detention Centre last May. The Governor has now provided us with very detailed information about the conditions under which the detainees are

held in Hong Kong. It appears that Mr. Hefti has made two visits to the Centre and has written two reports, both of which are attached. The later of these Reports was written by Mr. Hefti after he had been asked by the Hong Kong Secretariat if he would see any objection to his first Report being made available to a British M.P. Neither the Governor nor Mr. Hefti has any objection to both reports being made available to Mr. Johnson provided that we also let the latter see the related exchange of corres- pondence between Mr. Hefti and the Hong Kong

Government.

4.

It is for consideration whether it would be politic to make these reports available to Mr. Johnson. On balance, I suggest that it would be politic and might well serve to clear up any misconceptions that he may entertain regarding the circumstances under which the detained persons are held. As you know, this particular matter has been, and still is, the subject of a series of Parliamentary Questions and it might help to stem the tide if Mr. Johnson were put fully in the picture.

If,

5.

I attach a draft letter for Lord Shepherd to send to Mr. Johnson. The draft is based on the assumption that the above view will be approved. however, it is decided not to send the reports to Mr. Johnson, then the draft letter will need to be re-written in more general terms.

17 January, 1969.

(A. W. Gaminara) Hong Kong Department