m the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London S.W.1
7 August 1974
210
Dear Mr. Ennals,
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You wrote to Jim Callaghan on 1 August about the 118 South Vietnamese sent back to Saigon from Hong Kong, giving your view that an impartial international investigation was needed. You kindly sent me a copy of this letter. You also sent Jim a telegram on the subject on the same day.
In your letter you say that, according to reports and news reaching you, 14 of the group died in Con Son prison; that these included a four-year old girl and a twelve-year old boy; that 25 men of military age were ordered to join front-line units without training (your telegram as received quotes instead a figure of 21); and that the group were savagely beaten on their arrival in Saigon.
You will no doubt be aware that on 2 August the Government Spokesman in Saigon officially denied that any of the 118 people concerned had died or been sent to the front line.
In view of the assurances which we and the Hong Kong Govern- ment had from the South Vietnamese Government before the group were sent back, I am concerned to get to the bottom of the state- ments which have impelled you to write; statements which it would seem Amnesty International have found it desirable to publicise.
I should therefore be most grateful if you could let me have in the most precise detail possible the information on which you rely. It would be of the greatest help to know the sources
Martin Ennals Esq.
Amnesty International 53, Theobalds, Road
London, C1
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