TNAG-1005-FCO40-1254-Capital-punishment-in-Hong-Kong-1981 — Page 99

FCO40 Hong Kong Department Records 聯邦事務部香港部檔案 All

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State have been of the opinion that they would not

be supported in the House of Commons if they were

to advise that death sentences should be carried

out in Hong Kong. Moreover, there are no signs

that this attitude of the House of Commons is likely

to change in the immediate future.

I well understand the sense of frustration

of Honourable Members, which is shared by your Government.

I am authorised by His Excellency to say

that he fully recognises the fierceness of conviction

with which so many residents of Hong Kong hold the

view that, unless the death penalty is carried out in

appropriate cases, the flood of crime and violence.

will not be turned back.

In recognition of these factors he has once

again represented to the Secretary of State in the

strongest terms the wish of Hong Kong for a restoration

of the death penalty in those cases in which the.

circumstances of the crime leave no reasonable

justification for clemency.

His Excellency bas asked me to say that he

accepts the fact that public opinion on this issue is

so strong and so universal that a change to current

practice must be made in terms which go some way to

/meet the genuine..

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