TNAG-0258-FCO40-294-Legislation-relating-to-criminal-procedure-in-Hong-Kong-1971 — Page 114

6.

CONFIDENTIAL

(b) The case might be reported in a newspaper

which the relatives and friends did not see;

(c) The case might be reported in a newspaper

printed in a language not known to the

relatives and friends; and

(a) Even if the judgment and sentence were

reported in a newspaper normally read by the

relatives and friends of the accused, they

might miss the item since the date on which

judgment and sentence were to be announced

might not have been known to them and

. It is undoubtedly the case that during the

disturbances of 1967, the courts in Hong Kong had at

times to operate in circumstances of extreme

difficulty.

Indeed, there were occasions when

magistrates had been chased by communist-inspired

}

(e) even if thy sour the reduct in alpaper,

thy Aught the doubtful whether its was a two report.

but aber

itsell

mobs, not only from the courts

lelves, but also"

from the court precincts, The Governor's desire

that all courts should have the sweeping powers

conferred by Sections 122 and 123 is therefore under-

standable. It is because of the special circumstances

obtaining in the colony that efforts have been made to

meet the Governor's wishes as far as can be justified.

that the two sections/

However

is conside:

their present form go too far in embodying into the

permanent law of the eofony provisions which fundoubtedly

depart from certain fundamental principles of British

justice. The two sections are very similar in their

effect and if Section 122 were left in its present

form, as desired by the Governor, it would mean that

any court, when hearing any criminal case except

cases in which the court sought to ensure the safety

or well-being of a witness or any other person (in which case only Section 123 would apply) could exclude the general public (although not the press)

from the whole of the proceedings, including the

announcement of sentence, on the grounds that the

/interests

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