Vietnam commutes death sentences for two Australians, says FM
SYDNEY - Officials in Vietnam have commuted the death sentences imposed on two Australians convicted of drug trafficking, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Saturday.
Downer said Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong granted Australian citizen Mai Cong Thanh, 46, and Australian permanent resident Nguyen Van Chinh, 45, clemency after intense lobbying from his government.
“They should count their blessings, they are extremely lucky that they will not be executed,” Downer told public radio.
“As I’ve said, those Australians like me who are very opposed to capital punishment will be very pleased that the Vietnamese government has done what they’ve done.”
Thanh was convicted of drug trafficking in June last year after being caught with 1.7 kilograms (3.75 pounds) of heroin in 2003.
Chinh was convicted of buying one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of heroin in Vietnam in December 2002 and sentenced to face a firing squad in April last year.
A third Australian, Trinh Huu, 53, was sentenced to die last December after being found guilty of trafficking around two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of heroin following his arrest in December 2004.
Foreigners are rarely executed in Vietnam, which has some of the toughest drug laws in the world.
Downer said Tran commuted the pair’s sentences to life behind bars.
“He said in doing this it’s been done on the basis of the humane tradition and the good relationship between Vietnam and Australia, so I’m very pleased that the representations I and the Prime Minister and others have made on this occasion have borne fruit,” Downer said.
The decision means that Vietnam has commuted the death penalties of four Australian drug traffickers since 2003.
Downer said he was unsure whether the Indonesian government would grant similar leniency to two Australian ringleaders of the so-called “Bali Nine” drug gang sentenced to death on the Indonesian resort island this week.
Downer said he would continue to appeal for clemency for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran but he did not know what response to expect as no Australians had been sentenced to death in Indonesia under the current administration.
“What approach the Indonesian government and the Indonesian president will take to applications for clemency I really just do not know,” he said. “I have no experience of it.”
In December, Singapore hanged Melbourne-based drug runner Nguyen Tuong Van, 25, sparking outrage among sections of the Australian public.
Agence France Presse - February 18, 2006.
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