TNAG-0600-FCO40-748-Capital-punishment-in-Dependent-Territories-1977 — Page 77

CONFIDENTIAL - 3 -

4.

At Annex A is a list of executions in present

Dependent Territories and those Commonwealth countries of

which The Queen is Head of State.

II. THE NEED FOR CHANGE

5.

In 1974 the then Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr Callaghan) took the view that if

faced with an imminent execution there would be "no prospect

of returning to the Creech Jones formula

sustaining it when challenged in the House".

... nor of

Since that

time the House has decided against the re-introduction of

the death penalty for terrorist offences and there can be

little doubt that the majority of opinion in Parliament would

favour its abolition in all cases. If a death sentence were

carried out in a Dependent Territory therefore, there would

be strong reactions in Westminster.

6. A further consideration is Hong Kong. As a result of

pressure from HMG and of the Governor's efforts in persuading

his Executive Council not to oppose commutation, no death

sentence has been carried out in Hong Kong since 1966. The

Governor's understanding with his Executive Council is not

water-tight, however, and in response to local pressure to

restore the use of the death penalty the Governor had to

announce in late 1975 that whenever he commuted a death

sentence he would impose the alternative punishment of life

imprisonment unless exceptional circumstances justified a

lesser punishment. Public opinion in Hong Kong remains

strongly in favour of the death penalty and if a death

sentence were carried out in another dependent territory

/there

CONFIDENTIAL