TNAG-0445-FCO40-510-Discussions-with-Sir-Murray-MacLehose--Governor-of-Hong-Kong-1974 — Page 141

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LORD GORONWY-ROBERTS

DEATH PENALTY

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HONG KONG

At our meeting on 23 May it was agreed to submit a further paper which might be considered by the Secretary of State. 2.

The position on the death penalty in the Dependent Territories is described in the Background Note which was submitted to the Secretary of State on 3 April. Briefly, Hong Kong is only one of a number of Dependent Territories where the death penalty still exists, just as it does in the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. Hitherto, in regard to the exercise of the Prerogative of Mercy, successive Governments have followed

This is the policy first laid down by Mr Creech Jones in 1947. that, where the Governor has decided, in accordance with tho Constitution, that the law must take its course, then, in the event of a further petition to The Queen, the Secretary of Gabo would always advise Her Majesty not to intorvene, except in the

WA very rare case of an evident miscarriage of justice. principle was breached for Hong Kong in 1973 in the case of Tnoi, in the special circumstances where the decision coincided with debates in Parliament on the death penalty in general and in Northern Ireland. It remains undisturbed in the other Dependent Territories, where occasional executions continue to be cried out.

I discussed the problem with the Governor during my receni visit to Hong Kong. Since the Tsoi case, the Governor ha contrived to hold the position through the informal undernadin, described in my minute of 26 March, whereby his Executive Council agreed to acquiesce for the foreseeable future in decision:: bo

This has reprieve those sentenced to death in Hong Kong. relieved HMG for the time being of the need to face very difficult policy decisions. But the arrangement is clearly a tenuous one. The Governor told me that he had had a very rough ride in considering two recent cases, in one of which he was advised (runt we had previously agreed) that there were no mitigating faclord, before Executive Council eventually agreed to reprieve. public feeling in the Colony is strongly and increasingly restive over what is described as the suspension of the death penalty.

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