Vietnam taking a closer look at its death penalty

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.