HC Deb 15 January 1971 vol 809 cc149-50W
Mr. Biggs-Davison

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has received of the numbers of British subjects, and others, detained and restricted in Rhodesia; and to what extent there has been an increase, or decrease, since the Unilateral Declaration of Independence and since the Prime Ministership of Sir Edgar Whitehead, respectively.

Mr. Anthony Royle

According to Rhodesian sources, there were on 13th November, 1970, 143 people under detention and two people in restriction in Rhodesia. Two weeks after the illegal declaration of independence, there were 47 people under detention and 276 in restriction.

At the time of Sir Edgar Whitehead's resignation as Prime Minister there was no one under detention and there were 34 people in restriction.

Therefore, since the Prime Ministership of Sir Edgar Whitehead there has been an increase of 143 in the number of people under detention and a decrease of 32 in the number of restricted persons. Since the illegal declaration of independence there has been an increase of 96 in the number of people under detention and a decrease of 274 in the number of restricted persons.