The Colonial Office today rejected an appeal made by Mme. Moghannem, wife of the Arab National lawyer, for an amnesty for Arabs sentenced to life imprisonment for murders of Jews during the riots of 1929.
Mme. Moghannem sent her appeal directly to King George on the occasion of the marriage of the Duke of Kent to Princess Marina. She asked for mercy for the convicted Arabs in honor of the marriage of the Duke of Kent. The king turned the appeal over to the Colonial Office for action.
Among the Arabs serving long prison sentences for participation in the riots of 1929 are several convicted of the brutal murder of aged Jewish rabbis and young rabbinical students in Hebron.
Appeals for amnesty for the convicted men have been made to Palestine authorities on several occasions but have always been rejected by the judiciary and by the High Comissioner. Failure of the appeal to the King, the court of last appeal in the British Empire, means that the Arabs must serve the full terms imposed on them by the Palestine courts.
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