§ 56. Mr. Biggs-Davisonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what further reports he has received on the arrest or trial of Christian missionaries, including British subjects, in the Southern Sudan; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Lord John HopeI have received reports relating to four missionaries. One of them, a Catholic Verona Father, has been sentenced to three years imprisonment and ultimate banishment from the Sudan on a charge of lending the mission station's truck to mutineers who subsequently murdered a number of northerners. John Plumptre, a Church Missionary Society missionary, has been tried and acquitted. He was charged with conspiring to overthrow the Government. Two other Church Missionary Society missionaries have been withdrawn 205W from their station to Juba. One of them, John Parry, has been accused of obstructing the troops while searching the mission. The other, Blake Harrop has been accused of infringing travel restrictions imposed by the Governor of Equatoria Province.