AXWORTHY SEEKS AID FOR DEATH-ROW WOMAN

Shackled in Hanoi prison since 1997 trial

Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy will be demanding answers today in
the case of a Toronto woman sentenced to death in Vietnam for smuggling
drugs.

``I'll ask our consular people to go back and see what's happening (Monday),
Axworthy told The Star yesterday.

``We've already said very clearly in light of the circumstances of the case
we really think clemency should be given by the president of Vietnam. That
would be the appropriate step.''

Nguyen Thi Hiep, 42, of Toronto has been held in shackles in a Hanoi prison
since she was found guilty in 1997 of trying to board a Toronto-bound plane
carrying 5.4 kilograms of heroin at Hanoi's Noi Bai airport. Her mother Tran
Thi Cam, 74, was sentenced to prison for life.

Toronto police say the two were likely duped into smuggling the drugs.

Nguyen proclaimed her innocence to a Hanoi court at her three-day trial in
March, 1997.

Axworthy said he plans to talk to the Vietnamese government about commuting
Nguyen's sentence and getting her medical help as early as this week.

The plight of the woman was detailed in The Saturday Star.

``Early this year we had a consular visit on several occasions and they said
her living conditions had improved,'' Axworthy said, adding that he'd heard
now only one leg is shackled.

``We've taken all the legal recourses we have and made sure all her rights
were given under the convention as much as we could,'' Axworthy said.

``The problem we had is that the Vietnamese government didn't tell us of her
arrest until into early 1997. We did attend her trial,'' Axworthy said.

``She can't walk any more,'' says Nguyen's brother, Nguyen Hung, 35, of
Brampton, referring to the shackled leg. The Brampton factory worker said he
heard about his sister's condition in a phone call in mid-May from the
foreign affairs department.

Axworthy said the Canadian government did receive a response from the
Vietnamese minister of foreign affairs in 1997 that her execution would be
delayed. ``We have no indication when or if they plan to proceed,'' Axworthy
said.

``It's shocking,'' said John Hill, a lawyer with the Toronto based
Association for the Wrongly Convicted, the same group going to bat for Texas
death row inmate Stanley Faulder. ``This requires diplomatic intervention .
. . Why is Canada so laid back we let this happen to our citizens?'' Hill
demanded.

``We'll try to get her medical help,'' said Rubin Hurricane Carter,
executive director of the association.