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Vietnam to Execute Australian Heroin Smuggler

By Jeralyn, Section Foreign Affairs
Posted on Thu Jun 09, 2005 at 07:52:11 PM EST
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The Ho Chi Minh City People's Court yesterday sentenced 46 year old Australian Mai Cong Thanh, a native of Vietnam, to death for smuggling approximately 2 kilograms of heroin into Vietnam in loudspeakers. He is the second Austrailian to be sentenced to death in a year.

Vietnam, which has vowed to get tougher on drugs, launched a nationwide police crackdown this month on social vices such as prostitution and drugs abuse.

Meanwhile, in Bali, the Bali Nine were taken back to the airport and made to reenact the crime for police. It's a peculiarity of Indonesian law, that in deciding which charges to bring against a suspect, the police can force him or her to reenact the crime.

The four suspects alleged to be the drug carriers, Martin Stephen, Renae Lawrence, Scott Rush and Michael Czugaj arrived in handcuffs at the airport. They were dressed in the same clothes they wore on the night of their arrest in April. They had packages of foam strapped to their bodies to represent the drugs police say they carried at the time of their arrest.

Wearing signs reading "tera sunka" (suspect), the four re-enacted their arrival in two taxis and their check-in at the airport up to the time of their arrest.

Bali will seek the death penalty against most of the Bali Nine.

Update: The Australian Government says it will try to convince Vietnam not to execute Mai Cong Thanh and have him transferred under a prisoner exchange treaty.

If clemency is not granted Tran will be led to the Long Binh execution grounds, tied to a wooden post in front of his own coffin, blindfolded and shot by five soldiers standing three paces away.

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    Vietnam to Execute Australian Heroin Smuggler | 12 comments (12 topical)
    Re: Vietnam to Execute Australian Heroin Smuggler (none / 0) (#1)
    by DawesFred60 on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:54 PM EST
    That is normal in that part of the world, remember its a Marxist state, but bush is now looking for away to make deal with it. also remember in a Red State this guy kind of guy maybe innocent and maybe guilty and just maybe someone who is not liked by some bureaucrat or some Red Guard guy. you never know in a Bolshevik idea of government, "you know like our government is becoming".

    Re: Vietnam to Execute Australian Heroin Smuggler (none / 0) (#3)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:54 PM EST
    Pat...do you think these crimes are worthy of execution?

    Re: Vietnam to Execute Australian Heroin Smuggler (none / 0) (#2)
    by Patrick on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:55 PM EST
    What's up with all the Australians smuggling dope into 3rd world countries? Oh right the girl didn't do it and I suppose this guy checked the loud speakers in his luggage too.

    Re: Vietnam to Execute Australian Heroin Smuggler (none / 0) (#4)
    by SeeEmDee on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:55 PM EST
    I just don't get it. Viet Nam, ever since the French ran it (and ran the trade they introduced), has been awash in opium and opiates...ruthless Communist government notwithstanding. This sounds like more 'coals to Newcastle' stuff. And as to the 'wisdom' of transporting heroin into a country that views it as a powerful symbol of bitterly resented past foreign subjugation, "Darwin Award" probably sounds the same in Viet Namese as it does in English.

    Re: Vietnam to Execute Australian Heroin Smuggler (none / 0) (#5)
    by Patrick on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:55 PM EST
    Kdog, Personally I do not.

    Re: Vietnam to Execute Australian Heroin Smuggler (none / 0) (#6)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:55 PM EST
    Thats a relief Pat, Thanks. I do not contend these people are innocent, but that these draconian punishments are far more criminal than the original offense. Western govt's are in no position to criticize, as we do the same thing, only with slightly less severity.

    Re: Vietnam to Execute Australian Heroin Smuggler (none / 0) (#7)
    by narius on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:55 PM EST
    That is not an isolated case. Many countries in Asia (not just 3rd world) has very very stiff penalties for drug trafficing. For example, it is also a capital offense in Taiwan, a 1st world democracy. As a comparison, the US is really soft on the war on drugs.

    Re: Vietnam to Execute Australian Heroin Smuggler (none / 0) (#8)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:55 PM EST
    narius, but your chances of getting a marginally adequate defense don't exist in those places either. now, criticize public defenders all you want, or consider their overworked and underpaid nature, but at least they exist in our problematic society. as for the war on drugs, the only thing worse than american hypocrisy is that of thuggish regimes who can't stand free political speech, much less progressive drug policy. and taiwan may be a deomocracy in name, but i've seen more than a few fist and/or knife fights break out in the taiwanese parliment, congress, whatever, to know the difference. if that is how your leaders act in PUBLIC, lord only knows what they do in private. as much as i loate dubya and the right in this country, i MUCH rather be led by a party i oppose here than one i oppose "there". these nations deserve the criticism in these cases, and derision and more, the same way we deserve it for the deadly crap we unleash.

    Re: Vietnam to Execute Australian Heroin Smuggler (none / 0) (#9)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:55 PM EST
    As a citizen of the US and it's deplorable prison system, I no longer reserve the right to criticize other nations' judicial system. I will try in my own way to advocate prison reform where I can. For us to criticize other nations while we have tens of thousands of rapes in our prisons every year would be hypocritical. We need to clean up our own house before we complain about someone else's.

    Re: Vietnam to Execute Australian Heroin Smuggler (none / 0) (#10)
    by narius on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:56 PM EST
    "now, criticize public defenders all you want" Ed, I did NOT criticize anything in my last message. I merely point out the fact that capital punishment is not an uncommon thing in Asia, which is a fact and I have attached absolutely no opinion to it (at least in my last message). Now here is my opinion ... The criticism on Taiwan's democray is not justified. They have elections with a THREE party system. No party dominates (majority yes, domination, no) in the legislature. Despite their law makers' inability to be civil, their election is as democratic as the ones here. And since their legislature did not change the laws regarding how to punish drug trafficing, I would argue that is the will of their people. Just like it is the will of the people here in California to have 3 strikes laws, the Megan law and a host of other measures to get tough on crime.

    Re: Vietnam to Execute Australian Heroin Smuggler (none / 0) (#11)
    by DawesFred60 on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:56 PM EST
    Patrick, the guys are not smuggling it in but smuggling out of third world so called countries, most of the people arrested are being setup by the local/native police and the local/native DEA'S with the help of our/indigenous DEA, In order to make it look like we have a war on drugs, and to cover-up the real enemies of this nation and the ideals of freedom. this guy is one more victim and is being victimized by evil people with evil ideals, he is not the villain but is the next murder victim of this non war on drugs and lies.

    Re: Vietnam to Execute Australian Heroin Smuggler (none / 0) (#12)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:56 PM EST
    narius, i never meant to imply you criticized anything, i was making a rhetorical point in general about the perception of p.d.'s. but i have to disagree about taiwan: the commonality of fistfights and other violence in the taiwanese parliment speaks to its antidemocratic nature the same way corporate money's stanglehold on our congress does. they're as democratic as we are, one more "party" or no, and that ain't very. in short, like i said in my post, they deserve the same critcism and derision we do when our actions fall far short of our rhetoric.

    Vietnam to Execute Australian Heroin Smuggler | 12 comments (12 topical)