TNAG-2284-FCO40-3285-Capital-punishment-in-Hong-Kong-1991 — Page 116

CONFIDENTIAL

In

the Order applies power has been reserved to

to the Queen in Council to

make laws for the "peace, order and good government" of the

territories. The Order is made under Sections 5 and 7 of the West

Indies Act 1962 (for British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands,

Montserrat and Turks and Caicos Islands) and Section 1 of the

Anguilla Act 1980 (for Anguilla). The Order will enter into force on the same date for all the territories to which it applies. the case of the one person who has been convicted and sentenced to death and is now on death row, it would be appropriate for the

Governor to exercise the prerogative of mercy and commute the

sentence to life imprisonment, and we assume that when he is told

that the Order has been made he will do

so. This was the practice

followed by the Home Office in the case of persons who had been

sentenced to death immediately prior to the entry into force of the . act abolishing capital punishment for murder in the UK.

Under Section 7 of the West Indies Act 1962 the Order has to be laid

before Parliament after being made. The Order will be laid before

Parliament on the date it is made, and in accordance with normal

practice will enter into force 21 days thereafter.

FEBAAU/4

CONFIDENTIAL