HL Deb 17 June 1974 vol 352 cc723-4
LORD BROCKWAY

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what action has been taken to secure the trial or release of Brian Borthwick, an Englishman, who is alleged to have been held in solitary confinement in Singapore for over 200 days.

THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE, FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (LORD GORONWY-ROBERTS)

My Lords, Mr. Borthwick has been detained in Singapore since November 6, 1973. This is legal by Singapore law, but the British High Commission continues to press the Singapore authorities to bring him to trial, if there are charges to be answered, or else to release him.

LORD BROCKWAY

My Lords, I thank my noble friend, and appreciate what the British High Commission is doing. May I ask him whether it is a fact that Mr. Borthwick has denied any participation in the plot to assassinate the President of the Philippines, and that he withdrew as soon as he knew about it? Will the Minister express to Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, the Head of State in Singapore, the regret of those of us who have great admiration for the constructive work he is doing that the Singapore Government should be treating a British citizen in this kind of way?

LORD GORONWY-ROBERTS

My Lords, I am sure that the Prime Minister of Singapore, who is currently on a visit to this country, will appreciate very much what my noble friend has said about his achievements on behalf of his people. In regard to the charges—if charges there are—relating to Mr. Borthwick, I cannot enter into details of the merits to-day, but I can inform your Lordships that Mr. Borthwick is regularly visited by officials of the High Commission in Singapore and by his lawyer, and that his wife visits him every week.

LORD BROCKWAY

My Lords, is it not a fact that his wife visits him for only 30 minutes, and has to speak through glass and by telephone rather than by direct speech? Will the Minister suggest to the Singapore Government that they should adopt the British precedent, that when a man is in this situation he should be deported to a country of his choice?

LORD GORONWY-ROBERTS

My Lords, my noble friend, inimitably, has made publicly a suggestion with which I am in complete sympathy.

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