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| Execution by firing squad in Vietnam (Source: AI) |
A Vietnamese court condemned four men to death on Tuesday after they were convicted of heroin trafficking, an official said, in the latest application of the country's strict drug penalties.
Ta Van Uu, 49, Tran Van Thao, 35, Nguyen Van Hong, 31, and Nguyen The Hai, 31 were handed the death penalty at the end of a nine-day trial in the northern province of Bac Giang, the court official said, declining to be named.
Eight others were jailed for life and six people received between 16 and 20 years in prison.
State-controlled media said they were accused of trafficking more than 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of heroin in northern provinces between 2007 and their arrest in June last year.
Communist Vietnam's drug laws are among the world's harshest. Anyone found guilty of possessing more than 600 grams of heroin faces the death penalty.
Until recently executions were carried out by firing squad, but as of July 1 the country plans to change to lethal injection.
Four convicted murderers and a drug trafficker have been executed so far in 2011. Two Nigerian drug smugglers were sentenced to death earlier this year.
Heroin is the most widely-used illicit drug in Vietnam, the United Nations says.
Source: AFP, August 2, 2011
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