TNAG-0559-FCO40-654-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-into-othe-1975 — Page 176

95

ber 1 of January 1974 prohibiting criticism of the constitution, and Number 4 of April 1974 imposing heavy penalties, including death, for anyone found to

praise, encourage or sympathize with" the activities of an outlawed student organization. A total of 203 individuals were imprisoned as a result of these two emergency decrees. Although both decrees were rescinded in August 1974, and the sentences of 168 of the prisoners suspended, conditional on good behaviour, in February 1975, the sentences still apply and may be reinvoked at any time.

Among the 80 prisoners adopted by AI were students belonging to the group of 54 whose trial by court martial in July 1974 Mr Butler tried unsuccessfully to attend. Many well-known Koreans who supported the students were adopted. These included the poet Kim Chi-ha and the Roman Catholic bishop of Wonju City, Monsignor Daniel Tji Hak-son, who is Honorary President of AI's South Korean Section. In addition, a special postcard campaign was initiated on behalf of the eight men sentenced to death for their alleged part in the student "plot".

There was widespread interest in the case of the eight men sentenced to death and of the 14 others also imprisoned for their part in the so-called "People's Revolutionary Party"(PRP) case. In December, an American missionary was expelled from Korea following his investigation into the case. He maintained that the charges made by the Korean authorities against the PRP, that it had engineered student riots and served the interests of North Korea, were a complete fabrication.

In March 1975, a second AI mission was sent to South Korea to inquire into allegations of torture made by released prisoners. The delegates, Dr Eric Karup Pedersen, a Danish surgeon, and Brian Wrobel, an English lawyer, were hindered by official intimidation, including the effects of a new law prohibiting criticism of the government in conversations with foreigners. Despite this, the mission obtained evidence that torture had been used systematically.

During the course of the mission, the PRP case went on appeal to the Supreme Court on 8 April, and Mr Wrobel attended the hearing. The death sentences on the eight men were confirmed by the Supreme Court, in the absence of the defendants and their lawyers. Despite an assurance given to the mission by the Public Prosecutor's office that sufficient time would be granted for an appeal for clemency or for re-trial, as is guaranteed by law, the eight men were hanged without any opportunity to appeal less than 24 hours after the Supreme Court had passed its verdict. In its report, the mission strongly deplored the execution of the eight men. Moreover, the mission found that torture had been used to extract false confessions and as a tactic of intimidation; that lawyers acting for defendants in political trials were continually harrassed; and that pre-trial irregularities prevented an innocent defendant from presenting an adequate defence.

Mr Wrobel gave evidence on the findings of the mission at the hearings in May before the Sub-Committee on International Organizations and Movements of the Congressional Committee on Foreign Affairs of the United States House of Representatives. The mission report was also read into the record of the inquiry into international human rights by the US Senate Foreign Relations Sub-Com- mittee on Foreign Aid.