TNAG-0721-FCO40-919-Capital-punishment-in-the-Dependent-Territories-1978 — Page 104

CONFIDENTIAL

RESIDENT

THE

אגיון

RECEIVES

Les

HKG 386/1

#ка

ཨཎྜལ་

23 FEB 1978

DESK OFFICER

INDEX

HC. 57

Lampps

LAISISTRY

Action Takan

767

HUGO

G. Ps

ps/Lord Go ps lous

Mr Contazz

mr Stratton Legal Ado

PRIME MINISTER

Yes

EL

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN THE DEPENDENT OVERSEAS TERRITORIES

157) 1977

152

In my letter of 19 October last year I reported to you on

the conclusions reached at the meeting of Ministers held under my chairmanship on 13 October to consider the question of capital punishment in dependent overseas territories. You have asked for a report on the further conclusions of

GEN 103 on the recommendations in the Foreign and

Commonwealth Secretary's memorandum GEN 103(78)1.

We

2. GEN 103 met to discuss this problem on 16 February.

started from the point that we had agreed at our previous

meeting on the desirability of changing the present policy. The question for consideration therefore was how this should be done. We recognised the very real dilemma in which David

Owen found himself when dealing with the recent case of the

two men who were sentenced to death in Bermuda. Despite the general repugnance within the Party towards the death penalty and his own reluctance to endorse its use, David Owen had been effectively precluded from intervening in the

Bermuda case.

3. We considered further the possibility of abolishing the death penalty in dependent overseas territories by legislation of the United Kingdom Parliament. There are difficulties about this arising from the special situation in certain

territories. But there is also the problem of Parliamentary

time. It would not be possible to find time for legislation

in this Session and we all felt that early action was required.

Moreover, David Owen foresaw that there could be some very

serious cases in which, whatever the general attitude in

Parliament might be, he might consider it necessary not to

/ recommend

-

1

CONFIDENTIAL