Long criticized by human rights groups for its widespread use of the death penalty, Vietnam is now tentatively witnessing a debate on the issue, even though most observers consider a ban to be a long way off.
This month the communist state is to host a EU forum on capital punishment -- something that until recently would have been unimaginable.
"The original idea came from the Vietnamese side," a European diplomat told reporters, asking not to be named. "There are lots of positive noises about the debate and we want to encourage that."
In a country where most of the progress in humans rights results from constant international pressure, the move is highly appreciated.
"This is actually a very good human rights story about Vietnam, and there are not so many of them," the diplomat said.
Vietnam has handed down at least 97 death sentences so far this year and put 63 people before the firing squad, according to figures compiled from state media and court officials.
No official figures are available. In January, Vietnam even made it an offence to report information on the death penalty, classified as state secret. The decision was however poorly respected and no one was punished for reporting an execution.
An Australian man of Vietnamese origin was handed the death sentence for drug trafficking by a Ho Chi Minh City court, an official newspaper said Sunday.
International concern over the record is compounded by what is perceived as an inherent unfairness in Vietnam's heavily politicized legal system.
Defendants are seldom able to choose their lawyers, who in turn have little access to their clients. According to a legal expert cited by the US State Department, more than 95 percent of those brought to trial are found guilty.
"Routinely unfair trials in Vietnam mean that the death penalty is imposed under conditions which may lead to irreversible miscarriages of justice," human rights group Amnesty International noted last year.
But signs of change have emerged since April, with plans aired to wipe a number of charges from the capital punishment list, including so-called economic crimes such as bribery and corruption, for which several people are executed annually.
Justice Minister Uong Chu Luu told the local press Friday that he supported the plan and would put the changes before the government, in what he described as an effort "to catch up with the trend of democracy and humanity."
"We will cooperate with relevant anti-crime organizations and agencies, looking for public opinions and learning from the experience of other countries before submitting the proposal," he was quoted by the Tuoi Tre daily as saying.
Nguyen Duy Lam, a top justice ministry official, told reporters the time was ripe for change.
"The death penalty for economic crimes is banned in many countries and is not used in others ... but is retained in Vietnam because of the growth of economically-motivated crime in recent years," he said.
"Many other countries have changed their law, we should change ours."
Any such amendments to the criminal code would have to be approved by the National Assembly, which usually follows Communist Party decisions, and would represent a second major change to the law.
Five years ago Hanoi slashed the number of crimes punishable by death from 44 to 29, but in the interim only the methods of executions have been discussed.
Now, foreign diplomats welcome Hanoi's apparent shift to discuss the ultimate sanction itself.
Two separate diplomatic sources told reporters that a senior member of the Vietnamese government had let it be known to foreign officials this year that he wanted to see the death penalty abolished by 2010.
"What is new is that there is, in effect, a debate," one overseas diplomat based in Hanoi said.
Even if Vietnamese officials refuse to openly venture a timetable for changes to the criminal code and the reality of a ban seems a long way off, those lobbying against the death penalty are taking heart from the debate entering the public domain.
Now, at least, the subject is no longer taboo.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of