TNAG-0497-FCO40-562-Deportation-of-foreign-nationals-from-Hong-Kong-1974 — Page 23

-2-

held in prisons in or near Saigon while they await trial.

Island.

The group have thus all left Con Son

Following further approaches by HM Ambassador in Saigon, the Vietnamese Government issued on 30 July the following statement:-

"The British Ambassador called to express his Government's concern about the apparently conflicting press reports of the assurances given to the British and Hong Kong 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 had already informed the Minister of State at, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London, Mr 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."

Furthermore, the Vietnamese Minister for Information recently replied to a telegram from Amnesty International in the following terms:-

"We can state that no case of death or injury has been reported among those detained prior to appearing in court, and we can also give the assurance that none

of them has been sent to the front line."

Turning to the suggestion that the Government have aborted an EEC initiative on political asylum for Chilean refugees, this report is completely inaccurate. We have already agreed with our Community partners that in the event of death

/sentences

NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN