[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 8


AUSTRALIA/VIETNAM:

Australia to appeal death sentence:


The Federal Government will appeal for clemency for an Australian man of
Vietnamese origin facing the firing squad in Vietnam on drug charges.

Tran Van Thanh, 39, was handed the death sentence by the Ho Chi Minh
City's People's Court for drug trafficking on Friday.

2 of Thanh's accomplices, who are also Australians of Vietnamese origin,
Tran Van Viet and Pham Martin, received life sentences.

2 Vietnamese nationals were also jailed.

The 5 were arrested in June last year. Police are still hunting for 2
other Vietnamese implicated in the case.

Between February and June 2003, the 7-member gang, of whom 2 are women,
trafficked heroin from Vietnam to Australia. A Department of Foreign
Affairs spokeswoman said yesterday the three Australians had until
November 20 to lodge appeals against their sentences. She said the
Australian government had a long-standing rule of opposing the death
penalty. Consular officials had attended the trial and provided assistance
to the 3 men.

(source: The Advertiser)