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Vietnam hands down nine death sentences for drug trafficking
Khaleej Times, (AFP)
30 August 2003
HANOI - Vietnamese courts have handed down nine death sentences for drug trafficking as authorities press ahead with a tough anti-drugs policy, officials said on Saturday. A local court in southern Long An province sentenced four men and a woman to death on Friday for running a drug-trafficking network that smuggled heroin and opium into the country from Cambodia.
Another 25 defendants were given prison sentences -- three for life and 22 for between two and 20 years -- at the 12-day trial, a court official said.
Alleged ringleader Nguyen Minh Tong and his co-defendants were convicted of trafficking 35.3 kilograms (78 pounds) of heroin since 2000, the official said.
Also on Friday, four death sentences were imposed by the Ha Noi People’s Court at the conclusion of a 12-day trial for drug convictions.
Three men and a woman were among 20 defendants found guilty of trafficking 300 kilograms of opium and 13.5 kilogrammes of heroin from Lai Chau province, bordering Laos, to Hanoi between 1995 and 2000.
Seventeen other defendants received prison terms ranging from one year to life.
The government has vowed to stamp out the narcotics trade in Vietnam, which is often used as a transit point for drugs originating from the notorious Golden Triangle -- which links Laos, Thailand and Myanmar.
Consequently, it has enacted some of the toughest drug laws in the world.
Anyone found in possession of 300 grams or more of heroin, or more than 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of opium, faces execution by firing squad.
At least 20 people have been executed this year in the communist nation and 77 sentenced to death, according to information compiled from state media.
Amnesty International condemned Friday a twofold increase in the number of death sentences and executions carried out in Vietnam so far this year.
“The real number of executions as well as death sentences is undoubtedly a great deal higher than the official statistics available to Amnesty International,” the London-headquartered group added.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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