§ Mr. Fauldsasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is his estimate of the number of political prisoners at present held in detention in Southern Rhodesia by the illegal régime; and if he will publish the names.
§ Miss Joan LestorThere were 289 when the International Committee of the Red Cross last visited the detainees in October 1973. I understand that 18 have since been released on the instructions of the Rhodesian Judicial Review Tribunal, and that two more have probably been released. There may be other releases of which we have no knowledge. The tribunal was due to consider further cases this month. We do not know how many additional people have been detained since the Red Cross visit. The Rhodesian authorities do not make public either the names or the numbers of people held in detention.