TNAG-0497-FCO40-562-Deportation-of-foreign-nationals-from-Hong-Kong-1974 — Page 175

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West Germany

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930 8:40

7 August 1974

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SANG

Dear Radar,

You wrote to the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary on 26 July about the 118 illegal imigrants from South Vietnam who were returned from

on on to aigon on 17 June.

The 118 were only returned to aigon after the Vietnamese overnment had given assurances that nothing serious would happen to members of the group who were victims of the syndicate which had smuggled them out of Vietnam, and that cases of violation of Vietnam's immigration/ emigration laws would be tried in open court and would not be harshly punished. After the 118 had been repatriated, it was found that one member, ho had given a false name in long song, had previously been concerned to death on sunggling charges. le has since been re-tried and sentenced, instead, to life imprisonment.

Twenty-seven of the remaining 117 (comprisin women, children and old people) have now been released, and the remainder are bein hold in prisons in or near baigon. The group have thus all left Con on Island.

You may like to know that, following further representations made on the group's behalf by HM Ambassador in Daigon, the Vietnamuse Governmen' issued on 30 July the following staterent:-

"he British Ambassador called to express his Government's concern about the apparently conflicting press reports of the assurances given to the British and on one Governments about the 118 illegal immigrants repatriated from Hong Kong.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Vietnam reaffirmed to the British Ambassador in the republic of Vietnam what he ... alı

already informed the inister of state at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London, Ir Hattersley: namely that the 118 illegal emigrants who had been repatriated from Hong Kong are being treated fairly and will be tried in open court in the normal way according to the laws of this country. It is not expected that these illegal emigrants would receive any exceptional punishment."

Yours faithfully,

BH Dinwiddy

Hong Kong Indian Ocean Department