Injured Chinese soldier has his right hand reattached to his left arm, Hong Kong spy documentary screens in Britain: headlines from 40 years ago

An injured Chinese soldier who had his right hand reattached to his left arm, five Iranian girls stabbed for going out unveiled, and a Hong Kong spy story documentary screened in Britain made the headlines 40 years ago this week.

May 25, 1980

● The International Court of Justice unanimously ordered Iran to release the 52 American hostages held since November 1979 and declared in a split vote that Tehran must also pay damages to the US for the diplomatic crisis. The court said the seizure of the hostages and endorsement of the action by the Iranian government demonstrated the country’s “successive and continuing breaches” of its obligations under international conventions and the treaty between Tehran and Washington.

May 26, 1980

● Motorbike gangs had attacked and stabbed five Iranian girls walking in the street without veils, officials said. The attacks took place over two weeks in the town of Orumiyeh in western Iran. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini told women the year before that the wearing of head-to-toe chadors was “not an order but a duty” but he also warned that anyone who attacked unveiled women would be dealt with severely.

May 27, 1980

● An official who stole 88.77lbs of gold from a factory in 1961 and hid it in his stove for 19 years had been executed, People’s Daily reported. Guan Qingchang, 54, used his authority in the factory in the northeast city of Shenyang to steal the gold worth HK$3.75 million (US$750,000 at the time). His wife, who tried to sell some of the gold, was given a suspended death sentence.

● Granada’s banned Hong Kong spy story documentary might be seen on Britain’s television screens that month. Under orders from the Independent Broadcasting Authority, Granada TV did not air the film the week before as planned. It was about alleged scandals at Britain’s spy centre at Little Sai Wan in Hong Kong and was earlier shelved on grounds that it could prejudice national security.

May 28, 1980

●More than 300 brick-throwing pickets seeking to shut down a giant power station east of London in an inter-union feud battled with police protecting busloads of employees going to work. The dispute was the latest clash between union militants and moderates who wanted to work. The brawl erupted when the pickets tried to stop workers in a convoy of buses entering the £570 million complex, still under construction and four years behind schedule.

May 29, 1980

● Chinese surgeons had reattached the right hand of an injured soldier to his left arm after his right arm and left hand were torn off when he fell under a moving train two years before, reported the New China News Agency. The soldier had regained full use of his right hand which was working normally on his other arm.

May 30, 1980

● Hong Kong television viewers would still have the chance to see the Moscow Olympics on their TV screens, though 56 countries might boycott the Games. Rediffusion Television had decided to scrap its plans to air the Olympics on the grounds that it was of “no programme value”. But TVB confirmed that it would stick by its original plan to cover the controversial Games.

● Civil rights leader Vernon Jordan was critically ill in a hospital in Indiana, US, with severe internal injuries after being shot in the back. Police said they had not yet established if there was a racial motive behind shooting the 44-year-old black lawyer. It aroused memories of the assassination 12 years ago on the balcony of a Memphis hotel of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jnr which provoked racial rioting across the country.

May 31, 1980

● A US Federal Court ordered a lower court to take another look at why a Hong Kong company was buying huge amounts of stock in a major US textile firm, Dan River. Unitex Ltd began buying its stock in the third quarter of 1978. By the end of that year, it had acquired slightly more than 5 per cent of its outstanding stock.

Remember A Day looks at significant news and events reported by the Post during this week in history