EXECUTING CANADIAN WAS A BARBARIC ACT

The government of Vietnam must be condemned in the strongest possible terms
for its execution of a Toronto woman who may have been innocent of any
crime.

Nguyen Thi Hiep, 43, had been convicted in 1997 of heroin smuggling while on
a visit to Vietnam in 1996. Her mother, Tran Thi Cam, 74, is serving a life
sentence for the same crime. Nguyen, whose family lives in the Toronto area,
was born in Vietnam but became a Canadian citizen in 1982.

Vietnamese authorities claim she tried to smuggle the drug, hidden inside
picture frames, out of Hanoi's airport. Toronto police suspect Nguyen was
innocent because of a similar case involving another woman, who was caught
at Pearson International Airport. That woman was eventually cleared of all
charges.

Canadian foreign affairs officials sent a 50-page file of Toronto police
evidence to Vietnamese authorities two months ago. Advocates hoped the
Vietnamese courts, after reviewing the new information, would set Nguyen and
her mother free.

Instead, on Monday Nguyen was gagged, blindfolded, shot by a firing squad
and buried within the walls of the prison. She had maintained her innocence
to the end, refusing to sign a confession which her guards had tried to
force upon her.

Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy has expressed his shock at the
execution, which was carried out in utter secrecy.

The Vietnamese government had also ignored appeals on Nguyen's behalf which
came from Prime Minister Jean Chretien, U.S. President Bill Clinton, Rev.
Jesse Jackson, former boxer Rubin (Hurricane) Carter, and prisoners'
advocacy group Amnesty International.

On Wednesday, foreign affairs officials in Ottawa demanded a 30-minute
meeting with Vietnamese ambassador Trinh Thanh. They presented him with a
note of protest, demanding a formal explanation for Nguyen's execution.

James Lockyer, a lawyer and member of the Association in Defence of the
Wrongly Convicted, now feels his advocacy group may have taken the wrong
approach in lobbying on Nguyen's behalf. For three years, they had worked
quietly behind the scenes so as not to anger or embarrass the Vietnamese
government. "Maybe we made a mistake," he conceded on hearing of her
execution.

The only conceivable reason for Vietnam to carry out such a barbaric act is
to send a message to would-be drug smugglers. But even if Nguyen was a drug
"mule," such a crime doesn't warrant the death penalty. If a country wants
to use capital punishment, it should reserve it for drug kingpins, not for
low-level operators.

In corrupt regimes, top crime bosses can easily buy their way out of
difficulty. And in totalitarian governments, where rule of law and the
weight of evidence are routinely ignored, the innocent are all too often the
victims.

By this heinous act, Vietnam has stained its own reputation, ignored the
real criminals in its drug underworld, harmed its credibility with its
allies and strained relationships with Canada and the U.S.

If they had set out to strike a blow in the war on drugs, they couldn't have
chosen a worse way to do it.