British inmate on death-row in Vietnam saved by president
Friday, 04 Apr 2008 08:30
A British citizen who was on death-row in Vietnam has been spared
Iraq In Focus
Six years have passed since Saddam Hussein was ousted from power in Baghdad. Full Story
A Vietnamese-born British citizen who was on death-row in Vietnam has been spared by the country's president.
Le Manh Luong, 68, had been due to face the firing squad after being found guilty of heroin trafficking in 2006.
However, in a statement released by the British Embassy on Friday it was announced the president Nguyen Minh Triet had commuted Mr Luong's sentence last month.
A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said: "We can confirm that Le Manh Luong, a British national, has had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment."
"We made a number of representations to the Vietnamese government on behalf of Mr Luong."
Mr Luong, who came to London in 1983, suffers from brain damage after being struck by an American missile during the Vietnam War.
His family, who live in Kidbrooke, south-east London, declared their joy at the announcement.
Thanh Le, Mr Luong's niece, said: "We are so happy. Now we can go and visit him and he will have the horrific ankle and wrist shackles removed."
A number of high profile campaigns calling for Mr Luong's release have taken place in Britain including a petition organised on the Downing Street website and calls by the legal charity Reprieve.
In 2006, Mr Luong and three other Vietnamese defendants were sentenced to death for their involvement in trafficking 339 kilograms of heroin from Laos to Vietnam, via Hong Kong and China.