Pubdate: Fri, 28 Apr 2000
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2000 The Toronto Star
Contact:  One Yonge St., Toronto ON, M5E 1E6
Fax: (416) 869-4322
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Author: Allan Thompson, Ottawa Bureau

CANADA WITHDRAWS AMBASSADOR TO VIETNAM

Ottawa Protests Woman's Execution

Axworthy Considers Further Steps To Underline 'Our Real Sense Of Outrage'

OTTAWA - Canada has withdrawn its ambassador from Vietnam and will suspend
other links to protest Monday's execution of a Canadian citizen who was put
to death by firing squad after a drug-smuggling conviction.

An outraged Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy ordered the immediate
suspension of a Canadian initiative to help Vietnam's efforts to gain
membership in the World Trade Organization by providing technical
assistance.

Canada will boycott Sunday's celebrations in Vietnam marking the 25th
anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.

And Axworthy said yesterday in a telephone interview from Africa, where he
is attending a conference in Accra, Ghana, that Canada is contemplating
further steps in reaction to the execution of Toronto woman Nguyen Thi Hiep.

"Clearly they were not interested in getting the full facts of the case, and
that is not a way to behave from one country to another. This is crossing
the line," Axworthy said, in his first interview since the gagged and
blindfolded Nguyen was shot in a Hanoi prison.

"We're not sending any Canadians to (the anniversary celebration). At this
point in time, there is nothing to celebrate, with this treatment.

"These are things we can do immediately to express our very real sense of
outrage.

"For a government that is celebrating 25 years, this shows there are some
lessons that haven't been learned. And if you're going to be a part of the
international community of countries, there are certain rules one has to
live up to."

The Canadian ambassador to Vietnam, Cecile Latour, who happened to be in
Canada when the execution occurred, has been withdrawn to Ottawa
indefinitely for "consultation," while Canada awaits a response from Vietnam
to its angry formal protest.

"I have now asked her to stay for consultation and to determine, aside from
the steps we're taking, what other things we should look at," Axworthy said.
"That in itself is a signal we want to look at the full range of our
activities."

Nguyen, 43, was convicted in Hanoi in a three-day trial in March, 1997, of
smuggling 5.4 kilograms of heroin, hidden in an art object that she was
attempting to take out of Vietnam, where she had gone to visit a sick
relative.

Born in Vietnam, she moved to Canada in the early '80s, becoming a Canadian
citizen and living in Montreal with her family before spending about a year
in Toronto. But Vietnam does not recognize dual nationality and treated
Nguyen as a Vietnamese national.

Canadian officials made repeated appeals for leniency and in recent weeks,
were trying to convince Vietnamese authorities there was evidence that
Nguyen may have been an innocent drug mule, duped into transporting the
heroin.

Vietnamese ambassador Trinh Thanh said yesterday "there is a difference of
view between our two governments on the severity of the sentence and on her
claim of innocence.

"Every country has its law and it is important to uphold the law," he said
in an interview.

Trinh said he was surprised and saddened to hear of Canada's reaction and
also said that he hadn't yet been informed of Axworthy's measures.

"I am sorry to hear that, I was trying to appeal to the Canadian government
for understanding of our situation and respect of our justice system," the
Trinh said. "It's a difference in our law, out political system, our way of
thinking."

Axworthy, who has personally advocated a policy of constructive engagement
with Vietnam and who made direct appeals to his Vietnamese counterpart on
Nguyen's behalf, said he felt as if he'd been slapped in the face.

"What really disturbs me about this, aside from the tragedy of the family
itself, I had written specifically to the Vietnamese foreign minister . . .
to say there is evidence the Toronto police have accumulated to suggest
there are extenuating circumstances, that this woman may have been used by a
drug-running gang," Axworthy said.

During the years prior to her execution, Nguyen was shackled in a squalid
rat-infested jail cell while Vietnam officials ignored international appeals
from Prime Minister Jean Chretien, Axworthy, U.S. President Bill Clinton,
Rev. Jesse Jackson, former boxing great Rubin (Hurricane) Carter, Amnesty
International, the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted and the
woman's family.

"We did everything we could possibly do, all the way from the Prime Minister
communicating," Axworthy said. "We did everything that was within our
diplomatic power."

Trinh said Nguyen received a fair, public and lengthy trial and that
Vietnamese authorities rejected information Canadian police offered
suggesting she may have been duped into trafficking drugs.

Vietnam's concern for humanitarianism is focused on "preventing the spread
of this evil of this threat," of drug trafficking, he said. And while
Canadians may find a death sentence too severe, even inhumane, Vietnam's
priority is to crack down on the drug trade.

Trinh said he has had no instruction from his government on how to react to
Canada's hard line, but said he hoped there would be no long-term effect on
bilateral relations.

A court in Hanoi sentenced Nguyen to die. Her 74-year-old mother Tran Thi
Cam was sentenced to life in prison.

Nguyen and her mother told the court during their trial that they were
unaware that 5.4 kilograms of heroin was concealed in Oriental art panels
they were carrying at Hanoi's Noi Bai Airport, where they were arrested in
April, 1996.
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