§ MR. JUSTIN M'CARTHYasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether the Government have any authentic information with regard to the alleged infliction of a degrading punishment on two Greek priests in Cyprus by the orders of the English authorities in the island; and, whether, if such a punishment were inflicted, it has received the subsequent sanction of the Foreign Office?
§ MR. BOURKESir, in answer to the Question of the hon. Member, I have to say that, according to the information at the Foreign Office, two priests were sentenced in due course of law by the local Court at Famagosta—one of them to seven days, and the other to one mouth's imprisonment. We have asked for a Report upon the subject, and that Report is, I believe, now on its way home. With regard to the second part of the Question, I do not think it is likely that the Foreign Office, unless they find that some irregularity has taken place, will interfere either to sanction or disapprove of the sentence that has been carried out in pursuance of the judgment of a Court of Law.