TNAG-0402-FCO40-448-Review-of-the-death-sentence-in-Hong-Kong-1973 — Page 58

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NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN

Flag D

Registry

No. KK 14/16

¿CURITY CLASSIFICATION

Top Secret.

Secret.

Confidential.

Restricted.

Unclassified.

PRIVACY MARKING

..In Confidence

25

CONFIDENTIAL

DRAFT LETTER

Type 1 +

FROM

To:-

Sir Murray MacLehose KCMG MBE Governor Hong Kong

Sir Duncan Watson

Telephone No. Ext.

Department

Ministers have now given further careful

consideration to the question of the death penalty

in Hong Kong, following the reprieve of Tsoi. They

have agreed to take no steps to abolish the death

penalty in Hong Kong against your clear advice and

the apparently strong desire of the people of Hong

Kong that it be retained.

They stressed, however. that great care should

continue to be taken in Hong Kong in considering

reprieves. Reference had been made to the growth

is what exter It was not clear whether there had

of violence.

been a growth of capital crimes, and Ministers asked

that detailed figures of such crimes should be

obtained. They also asked for an analysis of the

grounds on which repțieves had been granted locally

in Hong Kong in recent years. This would be useful

in considering any cases which might in future be

the subject of petitions to The Queen.

I would be very grateful if these analyses could

be put in hand as soon as possible. I suggest that

the appropriate base year would be 1966. On the

crime figures, perhaps you could bring up-to-date

and expand, as necessary, the table enclosed with

your letter to me of 8 March 1973.

CONFIDENTIAL