HOW VIETNAM ACTED

It will be a bittersweet homecoming for Tran Thi Cam, who was finally
released from a Vietnam jail yesterday as part of a mass amnesty.

"I feel dizzy" is about all the 75-year-old grandmother said as she emerged
from four years behind bars and was spirited away by family members,
apparently to a local medical clinic before returning to her home near Toronto.

She must be one of the few Canadians not to know that her own daughter was
executed by Vietnamese authorities in April, still proclaiming her
innocence regarding the drug charges that also landed Ms. Cam in prison.

The Vietnamese government has a great deal to answer for in this appalling
case. And the Canadian government should demand explanations before any
reinstatement of ties with Hanoi, ties that were suspended after the
state-sanctioned murder by firing squad.

Why did Vietnamese assurances prove worthless that no execution would take
place while efforts were made to prove the two women had been duped into
becoming unwitting mules in a drug-smuggling operation?

Why were authorities so truculent in their treatment of Nguyen Thi Hiep's
remains? They have finally received a proper burial after months in a
shallow, unmarked grave that executioners dug near the city dump. But why
the delay in returning the body to Ms. Hiep's family? And why were those
remains apparently missing an ear?

It now also appears that Ms. Cam and her family deserve some answers from
Ottawa.

Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy has promised a full examination of
the charge by Ms. Hiep's husband that he had told Canadian officials the
execution was imminent. That is a stunning allegation, since Ottawa has
consistently indicated it was taken completely by surprise by news of Ms.
Hiep's execution.

Federal officials suggest the tip sounded like little more than a rumour.
Ms. Hiep's husband says otherwise. When Ms. Cam finally returns to Canada,
some time after her family has broken the news to her of her daughter's
tragic fate, she will want to know exactly what was going on while she
languished behind the grey walls of Xuan Phuong Prison.