VIETNAM RETURNS CANADIAN'S BODY

Woman Executed In April

The body of a Canadian woman whose execution by firing squad in Vietnam led
to a diplomatic row between Ottawa and Hanoi has been quietly returned to
her family.

This suggests that Vietnam is now serious about its promise to release the
woman's 74-year-old mother from prison in a general amnesty next week.

Nguyen Thi Hiep, a 44-year-old Toronto seamstress, was shot in April after
a conviction for drug smuggling. Her mother, Tran Thi Cam, a landed
immigrant in Canada, was given a sentence of life in prison for the same
incident.

Vietnamese officials have promised that Mrs. Tran will be among 10,000
prisoners, including 50 foreigners, to be released on Sept. 2 as part of
Vietnam's celebration of its National Day.

"Vietnam is favourably considering an amnesty for Mrs. Tran Thi Cam, in a
spirit of humanitarianism and in line with Vietnamese laws," Phan Thuy
Thanh, Vietnam's foreign ministry spokeswoman, said in a statement.

The promised release of Mrs. Tran from prison and the release of Ms.
Nguyen's body, which was mysteriously missing an ear, follow an informal
meeting between Lloyd Axworthy, the Foreign Affairs Minister, and his
Vietnamese counterpart at an international summit in Bangkok in July.

At the meeting, Mr. Axworthy personally conveyed the requests from both the
family and the Canadian government, said Michael O'Shaughnessy, a spokesman
for Foreign Affairs.

Mr. O'Shaughnessy said the release of the body is "a very positive step."

"The Vietnamese government has assured us that Mrs. Tran will be released
as part of the general amnesty on Sept. 2. We look forward to that."

The two women were convicted in Hanoi in March, 1997, after Vietnamese
officials discovered heroin, valued at about $5-million, hidden in
decorative art panels the women were taking out of the country.

Ms. Nguyen, a Canadian citizen who was born in Vietnam, and Mrs. Tran
maintained their innocence. Ms. Nguyen testified she was paid $100 to carry
someone else's art to Canada and did not know narcotics were involved.

An investigation by Toronto police suggested the women were telling the
truth when officers discovered an almost identical case at Toronto's
Pearson International Airport.

Canada was given assurances Vietnamese officials would hear the new
evidence before carrying out the execution of Ms. Nguyen. Before officials
could present their case, however, Ms. Nguyen was taken from her holding
cell to the Thanh Xuan Prison, bound, gagged and blindfolded, and killed at
dawn on April 24 by a firing squad.

Canada's ambassador to Vietnam was recalled for about a month and Jean
Chretien, the Prime Minister, accused the Vietnamese of "absolutely
unacceptable conduct."

Ms. Nguyen's body is in custody of relatives in Vietnam, and will be
returned to Canada after a three-year wait dictated by Vietnamese custom.

"Usually in Vietnam, after someone dies, they wait three years, open the
coffin and clean up everything with wine," said Nguyen Hung, 36, Ms. Hiep's
brother.

"They clean up the bones with wine and bring the bones to another coffin, a
new coffin, and then they move them to a new location, where they stay
forever," he said. "We decided to let her lie there for three years and
then we will bring her back here."

Mr. Nguyen is worried his mother's missing ear indicates she might have
been mistreated before her death. "We have no idea what happened, but my
sister's ear is missing. What happened to her before they killed my sister?
Why is the ear missing?"

Meanwhile, Mrs. Tran is expected to return to her anxious family in Toronto
after her release.

"First my mom will go to a hospital for a checkup and then [Canadian
officials] will work with the Vietnamese government to get her passport and
immigration papers back," Mr. Nguyen said.

Vietnam has a tradition of releasing prisoners to mark important events and
national celebrations.

In late April, thousands of prisoners were released to mark the 25th
anniversary of the fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese forces and the end of
the Vietnam War.