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Australia pleads for drug death mercy
CANBERRA, Australia -- Diplomatic relations between Canberra and Hanoi are being tested again following a court decision to uphold a death sentence against an Australian citizen convicted on drug charges. Australia has written to Vietnam to plead for the life of Le My Linh, the second such missive in recent months. The People's Supreme Court in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday rejected an appeal against Le's death sentence, imposed after she pleaded guilty to heroin trafficking. Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he was disappointed by the court's decision and repeated his nation's opposition to the death penalty. Forty-three year old Le -- who is of Vietnamese origin -- will now appeal for to Vietnam's president for clemency. "I wrote to my Vietnamese counterpart, Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien, on 28 August this year following the imposition of this sentence. I also called in the Vietnamese Ambassador to express our opposition to the death sentence," Downer said in a statement Monday. "I am personally writing to him again underscoring the Australian Government's support for clemency for Ms Le." Smuggling 600 grams (1.32 pounds) of heroin is punishable by death or life imprisonment in Vietnam, where executions are carried out by firing squad. Le had attempted to smuggle 881.8 grams (about two pounds) of heroin into Sydney in November last year. Downer said Australia was universally and consistently opposed to capital punishment. Other cases"Our opposition and concern about this sentence does not diminish Australia's respect for Vietnam's sovereign rights, nor our continued support for firm penalties against drug trafficking offences," he said. Le is not the only Australian citizen facing drug charges in Vietnam. Three sisters, aged 12, 14 and 24, were arrested at Ho Chi Minh City airport in November and charged with trying to smuggle heroin to Sydney, Reuters reports. And in January, another Australian of Vietnamese origin, Nguyen Thi Kim Hieu, 34, was arrested with nearly a kilogram (two pounds) of heroin before boarding a similar flight. In April 2000, Vietnam executed a 44-year-old Canadian woman of Vietnamese origin, Nguyen Thi Hiep, who was convicted in 1997 of trying to smuggle about one kilogram of heroin through Hanoi airport the previous year. Reuters contributed to this report.
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