CONFIDENTIAL
FM PARIS
TO DESKBY 22110OZ FCO
TELNO 368
OF 221048Z APRIL 93
INFO DESKBY 22110OZ HONG KONG
CONFIDENTIAL
18
176442
MDHIAN 8049
ра
ор сори
L HKD 384/1
22 APR 1993
IN
MIPT: EXTRADITION OF RAIS BIN SANIMAN
1.
Following is text of suggested letter from Attorney General to French Minister of Justice.
Begins.
Could I add my congratulations to those of Kenneth Clarke to you on your appointment as Minister of Justice and Garde des Sceaux. There have been close relations between my department and your Ministry under your predecessor, and I hope that we shall be able to build on these in this promising conjuncture of Franco-British relations. I also look forward to making your acquaintance.
I apologise for combining these congratulations with bringing to your attention a case of considerable importance and sensitivity for the British and Hong Kong Governments, and which is at present under consideration by your officials.
This is the case of the extradition of M. Rais Bin Saniman, on which there was an avis favorable by the Chambre d'Accusation de la Cour d'Appel at Versailles in 1990, but following which extradition was refused in March 1992. In the conviction that this decision had been based on a misunderstanding, we registered a recours gracieux in May 1992, and in the absence of a response by September 1992 brought this matter before the Conseil d'Etat in November 1992. We kept the Ministry of Justice and the Quai d'Orsay informed throughout.
I should underline that we only embarked on this unprecedented course because we were convinced that the matter had not been considered in all its aspects, either legal or political. This impression was confirmed when we learned that a point of major concern to the Justice Ministry was that M. Saniman's
that M. Saniman's life would be threatened if he returned to Hong Kong, although nothing about this figured either in the note informing us of the French Government's decision in March 1992 nor in your predecessor's observations to
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