HC Deb 17 February 1969 vol 778 cc32-3
31. Mr. Frank Allaun

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the practice of locking-in in the Hong Kong prisons; for what periods prisoners are subjected to this treatment; and how many of those detained following the demonstrations of 1967 are at present undergoing this treatment.

Mr. Goronwy Roberts

I assume that my hon. Friend has in mind those occasions when prisoners have refused to work and have of necessity been confined to their cells, except during exercise periods. Such confinement has ceased as soon as they have agreed to work. No prisoners are confined to their cells in this manner at present.

Mr. Allaun

Is it not correct that the Hong Kong regulations confine this practice to a maximum of three months, whereas some prisoners have been in confinement for eight months?

Mr. Roberts

There are no prisoners in that condition at the moment, and I know of none who have been in that condition for as long as my hon. Friend has suggested. However, I shall check this point and let him know if there is anything in it.

Sir A. V. Harvey

Should not we turn our attention to what is going on in Chinese prisons? Only yesterday we read about a British sea captain who had been imprisoned, and two yachtsmen were arrested yesterday. So it goes on almost daily. What are the Government doing about it?

Mr. Roberts

There is a Question down about that.

Mr. Whitaker

I agree with what was said in the last supplementary question, but is it not regrettable that several practices carried on in Hong Kong inhibit Britain's acceptance of the Human Rights Convention? Would it not be better to accept the request of the Hong Kong Bar Association for trial by jury, as is the normal practice, instead of detention without trial, which is totally un-British?

Mr. Roberts

That is a large question. It depends on what view one takes of human rights. When there is a question of intimidation and the threat of a bomb outrage it is up to the authorities to do what they can to prevent people being intimidated and being bombed. I would have thought that freedom from intimidation and being blown up by a bomb were basic human rights.

Mr. Fletcher-Cooke

Are not the Government of Hong Kong at the moment reducing the number of people in detention almost to vanishing point?

Mr. Roberts

That is so.