MOM STILL NOT TOLD ABOUT EXECUTION

TORONTO - She may not know her daughter was executed by a Vietnamese
firing squad, but Tran Thi Cam now likely suspects something awful has
happened to her child.

"We believe she has a feeling deep inside -- she says people are
treating her differently and looking at her strangely," said Cam's son
Hung Nguyen yesterday.

"When she asks about her daughter, she's just told things aren't going
well.

"But sometime we will have to tell her the truth -- that her daughter
is dead."

He just hopes the 74-year-old frail woman is free when she hears
it.

Movement by the Vietnamese government now suggests that might happen
soon.

In April 1996, Cam and her daughter, Nguyen Thi Hiep, 43, were
convicted of smuggling $5-million worth of heroin in a picture frame
at Hanoi's Noi Bai airport.

Last month, Hiep was gagged and dragged before a firing
squad.

The Toronto woman is believed to have been the first Canadian to be
executed for drug crimes.

After almost a month of intense pressure from the Canadian government
- -- who along with local police believe there's enough evidence to
suggest both women were duped into carrying the drugs -- the
Vietnamese government said Friday it will release Hiep's body back to
the family.

They have also indicated they may be willing to review the sentence of
her mom.

Hung Nguyen, and the rest of his family in Canada, desperately want
the remains of his sister dug up from a convicts graveyard on the
prison grounds. He then would like the ashes brought back to Canada.

Their faith believes the woman's spirit will remain earthbound for 49
days after her death, before it will pass onto the afterlife.

The clock is ticking past the days and family members want to say a
proper farewell.