TNAG-0401-FCO40-447-Review-of-the-death-sentence-in-Hong-Kong-1973 — Page 32

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H.K Oven Revie

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Death Sentence

Ming Pao (25.5.73), Tin Tin Yat Fo (26.5.73), and Nam Wah Man Po (26.5.73) all disagreed with the Hong Kong Bar Association that previous warning should be given before the death sentenced can be carried out.

According to the principle of British Law, Ming Pao said, a law is effective so long as it has not been abolished and anyone found guilty cannot plead innocence just because he is ignorant of that law. The Governor has no duty to warn all potential murderers that they will be executed if they have committed murder and are sentenced to death. The barristers should realise that the death sentence in Hong Kong has not been abolished. Therefore, their argument is theoretically unsound.

Tin Tin Yat Po put forward five points to refute the Barristers' case. They are:

1.

2.

3.

4.

If they agree that the laws in Hong Kong have their own just and independent power, and believe that the decisions made by the Governor are based upon those laws, there should be no need for the seventy-one local residents to write to Britain to plead for mercy for a murderer.

They said that they were not against the death penalty but they disliked the intention to execute Choy Kwok-cheong without previous warning. That means they have ignored the seriousness of the crime situation in Hong Kong, the crime that warrants the death penalty and the demand of the Hong Kong people for concerted action to combat crime just because no previous warning was given. Is this not prejudice?

Is there a law in Hong Kong to decide whether the Governor should grant a reprieve for death sentence or not? Is there a law in Hong Kong saying that death sentences should be executed with previous warning? If the answers to the above questions are "no" and the Bar Association still thinks that they have sound reasons to write to London, then there is no need for Hong Kong to have laws and courts.

Did Britain grant a reprieve to Choy Kwok-cheong because the Governor had not given previous warning?

5.

Did the murderer give previous warning to his victim?

At the same time, Nam Wah Man Po said, "The people of Hong Kong do not like to see people hanged but they also do not want to see people escape death which they deserve".