Asia Times: Vietnam debates capital punishment, again


	May 31, 2000	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

Vietnam debates capital punishment, again
By Nguyen Nam Phuong

HANOI - Like other Southeast Asian nations, Vietnam has stringent laws that impose the maximum penalty of death on those found guilty of drug offenses. But the recent execution here of a Canadian national convicted of drug smuggling has once again sparked discussions on whether to keep the death sentence.

To be sure, Hanoi has officially expressed only disappointment over Canada's decision to suspend ministerial-level contact with Vietnam following the April 25 execution by firing squad of Canadian citizen Nguyen Thi Hiep. But the carrying out of Hiep's death sentence has made capital punishment the topic of discussions here once more. Observers though say that Hiep's execution may have added weight to opposition both at home and abroad to the growing number of executions in Vietnam. The death sentence is currently handed down for a number of economic crimes as well as murder, armed robbery and some sex and drug offences.

Legal Affairs Department Deputy Director Pham Van Hung acknowledged recently that the death penalty was a ''sensitive issue''. Still, he denied that radical amendments to the penal code would be tabled in the current one-month session of the National Assembly. Criticism over Vietnam's retention of capital punishment has been growing in the last several months, although local discussions about it have waxed and waned. Last December, however, a meeting of the National Assembly reduced the number of crimes punishable by death from 44 to 29. Most of those taken off the list were economic crimes.

In January, the country's most prominent Buddhist dissident, Venerable Thich Quang Do, called on Hanoi to ''follow the example of civilized nations'' and abolish capital punishment altogether. ''There are many people like me who oppose (the death penalty) but do not dare speak out,'' he said in a letter to Vietnam's leaders. ''The due process of law is not yet guaranteed. Unfair trials may lead to irreversible miscarriages of justice in which innocent people may be killed.''

More recent criticisms came from the annual UN Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva early last month.

According to Vo Van Ai, chair of the Vietnam Committee for the Defense of Human Rights and vice president of the International Federation of the League of Human Rights, 194 people were sentenced to death last year, compared with 170 in 1998. ''Death penalties continue to be pronounced despite advice from the upper echelons . . . who have called for it to be used less,'' said Ai. One of the top officials who have expressed distaste for the firing squad has been no less than Prime Minister Pham Van Khai, who has commented that too many prisoners were being executed.

Nguyen Quiche Vet, who heads the Justice Ministry's Penal Code Department, also admitted, ''Reality shows that more capital punishment is not the answer.''

But observers see the death penalty as one way for the government to match its tough ''anti-social evils'' rhetoric - focusing on drugs, prostitution and pornography - with unequivocal action. It was in response to a growing drug abuse problem that capital punishment in 1997 was introduced in cases of possession of more than 100 grams of heroin or five kilograms of opium.

The trafficking of drugs, particularly heroin, has increased steadily since Vietnam's economy began to open up in the late 1980s. The country's proximity to the Golden Triangle, an important heroin producing region, and its porous land borders have made Vietnam a major drug transit point to western countries. Domestic heroin addiction is also believed to be on the rise. Earlier this year, Public Security vice minister Le The Thiem put the number of addicts at 180,000, claiming that the figure had grown by 11,000 in 1999.

Official figures for those put to death for drug offenses in 1998 vary between 49 and 57. According to the National Anti-Drug Committee, 82 people accused of a drug offense were sentenced to death last year. Press reports add that about a dozen foreign drug traffickers have been sentenced to death over the past five years, mostly Laotians, but also nationals of China, Taiwan and Singapore.

Hiep, a 44-year-old woman who had emigrated from Vietnam in 1981, was arrested with her mother in April 1996 at Hanoi's Noi Bai airport. Hiep was charged with possession of five kilograms of heroin. Her mother, who is 73 and a Vietnamese passport holder, was given life imprisonment.

Prior to Hiep's execution, the Canadian government appealed for clemency and offered information concerning the case that, according to Canadian police, suggested Hiep could have been coerced into carrying the haul by a drug smuggling ring. But Vietnam disregarded the appeals and executed Hiep, leading Canada to suspend ministerial contact with this country. Earlier this month, Canadian Premier said, ''We have taken all the steps possible to make sure that (Vietnam) understands that such an action cannot be acceptable and that the Canadian government absolutely condemns it.''

Hanoi has chosen to downplay Canada's protests. But in an interview with IPS, Do Quang Trung, assistant to the head of the Narcotics Criminal Prevention Department under the Ministry of Police, was defiant. ''We want to emphasize that Canada has no goodwill,'' he said. ''What it has said is totally slanderous . . . The fact that Canada uses this case to interfere into human rights issues in Vietnam is a gross interference in Vietnam's internal affairs.''

Vietnam's efforts to stamp out the drug trade actually face a multitude of hurdles. Anti-narcotics forces are underfunded, often leading to corruption and, in some cases, complicity with smugglers. Roles of state agencies are confused and overlapping, resulting in a lack of coordination. But whether or not capital punishment for drug traffickers is effective in containing the drugs menace, public opinion appears to be strongly behind it. Said a bank employee here who chose not to be named: ''Vietnam has always executed people. We don't really think about it.''

''Drug traffickers indirectly kill many people and cause misery in society,'' she added. ''Most people believe they should be executed. Putting them in prison is a waste of money.''

(Inter Press Service)

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