HC Deb 01 February 1971 vol 810 cc259-60W
Mr. Russell Johnston

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will seek to raise at the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations the recent executions of 58 persons in Guinea.

Mr. Kershaw

I do not consider that it would be helpful for Her Majesty's Government to take the initiative in raising the matter in the United Nations Human Rights Commission of which Guinea is not a member. Further more reports of these mass executions, which Her Majesty's Government would of course deplore, are not confirmed and may have been exaggerated.

Mr. Russell Johnston

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether, following the execution of 58 persons in Guinea, he will make representations to the Government of Guinea that those sentenced to life imprisonment in the recent trials should be treated with clemency, in view of his recent action over the Basque and Soviet trials.

Mr. Kershaw

I would refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to his supplementary question on 25th January.—[Vol. 810, c. 24.]