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HUMAN RIGHTS FOR EACH PERSON REGARDLESS OF AGE, RACE, RELIGION OR POLITICS
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LATEST NEWS
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Death sentence for Aussie smuggler
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September 19, 2007
A SYDNEY man was sentenced to death in Vietnam yesterday for trying to smuggle almost a kilogram of heroin to Sydney in his underwear, as two other Australians prepared to face trial in Hanoi tomorrow on unrelated heroin trafficking charges.
The convicted man, 40-year-old Tony Manh, will be supported in his expected appeal for clemency by the Australian Government, a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said last night.
"Recently, the fact that many Australians of Vietnamese descent are involved in trafficking heroin from Vietnam to Australia has become a phenomenon," said Phan Tanh of the People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City.
Manh was caught with the drugs on March 3 at Tan Son Nhat Airport in Ho Chi Minh City as he prepared to board a flight to Sydney. He told the court he was paid $US10,000 to transport the drugs out of the country.
Ben Cubby and AFP
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Govt to help Aust man in death penalty appeal
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Foreign Affairs Minister says the Commonwealth will support any appeal by an Australian man facing the death penalty in Vietnam to convert his sentence to life in prison.
Forty-year-old Tony Manh has been found guilty by a Vietnamese Court of heroin trafficking after he was arrested in March with a kilogram of heroin hidden in his underwear.
Alexander Downer told Southern Cross Radio the Australian Government has been successful in having the death penalty overturned in four previous cases.
"The arguments that we put haven't been arguments based on the merits or otherwise of the case, but on the grounds of humanity," he said.
"We oppose the death sentence and it's important in terms of the relationship between Australia and Vietnam that the execution doesn't take place."
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Vietnam sentences Aussie to death
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September 18, 2007
An Australian man of Vietnamese origin has been sentenced to death for heroin trafficking in a Ho Chi Minh City court, a court official said.
Tony Manh, 40, of NSW, was convicted of trafficking 0.948 kilograms of heroin at the one-day trial, Phan Tanh, deputy head of the People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City, said.
Manh was sentenced to death and ordered to pay a fine of 50 million dong ($A3,755).
Manh was arrested in March after security officers at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City found the drugs hidden on his body as he was about to board a plane to Sydney.
The official Vietnam News Agency reported that Manh was paid $US10,000 ($A12,020) by a Vietnamese to smuggle the drug into Australia.
The counsellor at Australia's Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City, Graham Pearce, said a representative from the consulate attended the trial, but declined to comment.
Tanh said the court would put on trial two other Australians of Vietnamese origin on Thursday, also on charges of heroin trafficking.
There was no suggestion the cases were connected to Manh's.
"Recently, the fact that many Australians of Vietnamese descent are involved in trafficking heroin from Vietnam to Australia has become a phenomenon," Tanh said.
"City authorities have been trying their best to stop this practice."
Several Australians of Vietnamese descent have been arrested for trafficking heroin to Australia from Vietnam in recent years and at least five were sentenced to death.
None of the sentences have yet been carried out.
In May, a Vietnamese Australian on a Sydney-bound plane vomited a nylon bag of white powder suspected to be heroin, causing the plane to return to Vietnam.
At the same airport in Ho Chi Minh City in February, an Australian woman was arrested after being caught with 1.5kg of heroin in her luggage.
Vietnam has some of the world's toughest drug laws.
Possessing, trading or trafficking more than 600g of heroin or 20kg of opium is punishable by death or life in prison.
About 100 people are sentenced to death in Vietnam each year for drug-related offences.
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Aussie man sentenced to death
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19.9.2007
An Australian man convicted of drug trafficking in Vietnam has been sentenced to death by firing squad.
Tony Manh, of New South Wales, was caught trying to smuggle almost a kilo of heroin out of the country on a plane to Sydney.
Security officers at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City stopped the 40-year-old as he tried to board a flight in March.
He was found guilty after a one-day trial at the city’s People’s Court, and ordered to pay a 40 million dong (AU $3,755) fine.
One-day trial
The official Vietnam News Agency reported Manh had been paid US $10,000 (AU $12,020) to smuggle the drug into Australia.
A spokesman for Australia’s Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City said a representative had attended the court, but refused to comment on the verdict.
Phan Tanh, deputy head of the People's Court, said two other Australian citizens would be tried on charges of heroin trafficking on Thursday.
Their case is not believed to be connected to that of Manh.
Death row
Several Australians of Vietnamese descent have been arrested for drug smuggling in Vietnam in recent years.
At least five have been sentenced to death, although authorities say none of the sentences have yet been carried out.
Vietnam has some of the world's toughest drug laws. Possessing, trading or trafficking more than 600g of heroin or 20kg of opium is punishable by death or life in prison.
About 100 people are sentenced to death in Vietnam each year for drug-related offences.
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