Cable Briefs

Press, 18 July 1979, Page 8

Cable Briefs

Amnesty appeal Amnesty International today called on the Soviet President (Mr Leonid Brezhnev) to commute death sentences it said had been passed on four men in the Ukraine for business crimes. The London-based humanrights organisation said the four were among 50 people convicted of stealing surplus textiles from a factory and selling them for private gain. “All those sentenced to death are Jews,” an Amnesty statement said. — London. 8.8. C. under fire The 8.8. C. has again been rapped over its recent interview with a terrorist from the group who murdered the former Tory Ulster spokesman, Airey Neave, at the House of Commons. In a Commons written reply the Home Secretary (Mr William Whitelaw) condemned the broadcast with a member of the outlawed Irish National Liberation Army as “wholly inappropriate”. Mr Whitelaw said: “The broadcasting authorities owe terrorists no duty whatever, gratuitously to provide them with opportunities for the publicity they want. That is simply to play into their hands.” In the Commons last week Mrs Thatcher launched a fierce attack on the 8.8. C. for screening the interview and said that the AttorneyGeneral (Sir Michael Havers), was investigating. — London. Hanoi stand

Vietnam has said it will face up to political issues which might be raised at this week’s Geneva conference on refugees. Representatives of more than 70 countries will meet in ' Geneva on Friday and Saturday to discuss Indo-Chinese refugees. Radio Hanoi, monitored in Bangkok, said the conference should deal with humanitarian aspects of the problem. It added: “If anyone deliberately raises political methods to distort Vietnam’s policy, we shall give an appropriate answer.” — Bangkok.

‘Citizen 9 sale The “Citizen,” the proGovernment newspaper at the centre of South Africa’s slush-funds scandal, is to be sold for the token price of one rand (about one New Zealand dollar). Its present owners, the Afrikaanslanguage publishing group, Perskor, is selling to an independent group which includes two Perskor directors. The “Citizen’s” founding in 1976 with 12 million rand (about $l2 million) of secret Government funds from the Information Department led to a scandal which brought down a Cabinet Minister, Connie Mulder, and the State President, John Vorster, the former Prime Minister. — Johannesburg.