SENTENCES NOT YET ANNOUNCED

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23140, 2 October 1940, Page 9

SENTENCES NOT YET ANNOUNCED

(I NITED PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT.) (Received October 1, 9.30 p.m.) LONDON, October 30. A message from Tokyo reports that 10 Britons, who have been under arrest since July 27, have been indicted on charges of violation of the law for the protectum of military secrets, and several others are being detained. The Japanese Minister for Justice (Mr Arika Kazami) announced that seven of the 10 Britons had been convicted. The sentences would be announced later. Those indicted include Captain Charles H. James, of Tokyo, a retired naval officer and representative in Japan of the Federation of British Industries, and Messrs George A. James, Ernest W. James, MichaelLinger, Hamish MacNaughton, Henry Blyth, John Drummond, William T. Charles, and T. B. Willey. One Japanese has been indicted arid 50 others have been warned to account for pro-British activities. The serious view that Britain took of the arrests was stated by the Foreign Secretary (Lord Halifax) on % July 30. There was no foundation whatever, he said, for the allegation by the Japanese Government connecting the arrests with “increasing activities of foreign organisations of espionage and conspiracy” in Japan. The spokesman of the Japanese Foreign Office (Mr Yakicbiro Suma), however, said that Japan would refuse to consider any British protest against the arrests. He added that it was a mistake to assume that the action was entirely anti-British, as any others engaging in espionage, regardless of nationality, would be dealt with relentlessly.