Pubdate: Fri, 05 May 2000
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2000 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact:  http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Author: Christopher Levenson
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n580/a06.html

REMOVE INJUSTICES

So Vietnamese Ambassador Trinh Quang Thanh ("Execution ignites diplomatic 
crisis," April 28) hopes to find understanding among Canadians as to why 
Vietnam had to execute Nyugen Thi Hiep, a Canadian citizen, for allegedly 
having in her possession five kilograms of heroin. Not with me, he won't.

Even without the new evidence that was sent to Vietnam and ignored by 
Vietnamese authorities, indicating the heroin may have been planted, the 
death penalty in such a case is repugnant and barbaric. It cannot be undone 
retroactive if the person killed by the state is proven to have been innocent.

To add insult to injury, only four days after this execution, Vietnam had 
an amnesty that released 12,000 prisoners, including murderers and drug 
traffickers, as a goodwill gesture. That is more than just bad timing; it 
is the height of hypocrisy and makes a mockery of Canada's supposed concern 
for the rule of the law.

Does Vietnam's ambassador have any idea what such actions, and his attempts 
to justify them, do to Vietnam's image in the world? Surely even if he 
can't understand most Canadians' moral outrage at these two acts, he can at 
least see that they are unlikely to help Vietnam's desire for more foreign 
trade, especially tourism.

The most obvious way to get rid of criminal activity associated with drugs 
is to make them legal everywhere.

Then, as is the case with alcohol although we still have problems of abuse, 
much of the resources that go to building bigger prisons and training ever 
more heavily armed police could go to removing the social and economic 
injustices that make it worthwhile, for people who have nothing, to risk 
their own and others' lives in smuggling drugs.

Christopher Levenson, Ottawa
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