TNAG-0486-FCO40-551-Review-of-death-sentence-in-Hong-Kong-1974 — Page 137

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CONFIDENTIAL AND PERSONAL

Foreign and Commonwealth Office London SW1

Sir Murray MacLehose KCMG MBE

HONG KONG

Telephone 01-

Your reference

Our reference

Date

HKK 14/1

18 January 1974

12)

Dear Rurray,

DEATH PENALTY

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RPF

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REF.

As promised, I attach a copy of the Home Office letter to me, with their comments on the Liu Chu case.

1.

2.

The second paragraph of Prior's letter confirms our view that the case is indeed a bad one, in which it is difficult to find mitigating circumstances.

3.

You may already have put in train the action suggested in his third paragraph. It would in any case be helpful if you could let us have, if possible by telegram, your comments both on the suggestions and on their outcome. If we are to tell Ministers that this really is a worst case, and therefore that they must begin to think about the consequences, then we shall have to be able to assure them that all possible avenues of mitigation have been thoroughly explored.

4.

Prior's fourth paragraph is a bit off beam, since it does not take account of the distinction in Ministers' minds between representative and non-representative legislatures. Nevertheless it does touch on one of the relevant problems.

5.

On the question of the timing of Ministerial consultations, you will have heard the rumours of an impending decision to hold an election in February. We have no further information on this, but, according to the press, unless the Prime Minister decides to hold an election and announces his decision within the next week, there is unlikely to be any change until the autumn.

6.

We might not be able to get a Ministerial view on such an emotive subject until the electoral uncertainty is cleared up. Moreover, from your point of view, I imagine you would not want to get involved in the beginnings of a row on the death penalty, or alternatively in preparations for hanging a man, if there was the smallest chance of an early change of Government and policy in the UK. The last point was one that Denys Roberts particularly stressed when he was here.

K

CONFIDENTIAL AND PERSONAL

17.

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