TNAG-0722-FCO40-920-Capital-punishment-in-the-Dependent-Territories-1978 — Page 149

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NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN

Registry

No.

| SECURITY CLASSIFICATION

Top Secret.

Secret.

Confidential,

Restricted. Unclassified.

PRIVACY MARKING

DRAFT Letter

To:-

Mr Greg Lee

General Secretary

Labour Club

School of Oriental & African

Studies

.In Confidence

Malet Street

London WC1E 7HP

Denná Oman has atted ind

G

reply

65

Type 1 +

From

Mr David Stephen

Telephone No. & Ext.

Department

Thank you for your letter of 4 April, to which the

Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary has asked me to

reply. Dr Owen understands your concern to ensure that

overseas students recognise that the Labour Party and

the present Government are not preoccupied only with

has asked me to say that he is soon, narrow nationalist issues. He very much regrets if

the executions in Bermuda last December should have

made this task more difficult for you.

The question of capital punishment in the Dependent

Overseas Territories is complex. As you say, the

administration of justice in Bermuda is a matter for the

Bermuda Government. In 1965, when the death penalty

for murder was suspended in the United Kingdom, and

again in 1970 when it was abolished, we invited all

those Dependent Territories which still retained it to

follow our example. Several did so, but 7 territories,

including Bermuda, declined and still retain the death

penalty. As recently as 1975 the Bermuda House of

Assembly debated a motion to abolish the death penalty

for murder, but rejected it on a free vote by 25 votes

to 9. This was the decision of a body democratically

elected by the entire adult population of the territory,

and it would be difficult for the British Government to

take action that went against the will of the people

/concerned