A court in the commercial capital of Ho Chi Minh City sentenced a US national, also wanted by Belgian police, to death for heroin trafficking, just days after US President Bill Clinton's landmark visit

Vietnam expressed regret over Canada's decision to stop contacts with Hanoi at the level of ministries and agencies

The Canadian government froze all ministerial ties with Vietnam to protest against the execution of Canadian citizen Nguyen Thi Hiep on drug smuggling charges on April 24

A Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman said the Vietnamese government regretted the reaction from the Canadian government on the execution of Nguyen Thi Hiep

Canada's foreign affairs minister, Lloyd Axworthy, said he was shocked and disappointed by Vietnam's decision to execute a Canadian woman

Nguyen Thi Hiep, a Canadian citizen of Vietnamese origin was executed in Hanoi, where she was arrested in 1996 for drug trafficking, a court spokesmen said

The National Assembly Standing Committee discussed and adopted a resolution on the enforcement of the revised Criminal Code

Pham Van Hung, a senior official from Vietnam's National Assembly, told a news conference that Vietnam's amended Penal Code cut by a third the number of crimes that carry the death penalty

A court in central Vietnam sentenced 43-year-old Lieutenant-Colonel Le Van Luen a former senior police officer, to death by firing squad for dealing in heroin, bringing the number of people sentenced to death for drug trafficking in 2000 to at least 49

The Vietnamese journal An Ninh Thu Do (Police Journal) reported that during November the police division in charge of drug prevention and control of Hanoi City worked closely with public security units in districts and precincts to successfully handle 150 cases of drug-related crimes and arrest 221 offenders

Deputy Nong Thai Nghiep from Thai Nguyen province criticized the judiciary for not carrying out the sentences issued by the courts

The Hanoi People's Court handed down five death sentences and six life imprisonment sentences to 11 defendants for involvement in a drug trafficking ring

The People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City sentenced Bui Huu Tai , 32, to death for involvement in drug trafficking

The People's Court in northern Quang Ninh province opened a court hearing of the biggest narcotics trafficking case ever in the province

The Ninh Binh People's Court handed down death sentence to three defendants in the second biggest opium trafficking ring in the northern Ninh Binh province since the ring led by Nguyen Ngoc Phu was detected in 1999

A Vietnamese court sentenced two men to death and another to life imprisonment for counterfeiting Vietnamese banknotes

The five-day appeal court trying Vietnam's biggest drug case in Nam Dinh province reached its verdict

The HCMC People's Court sentenced Tran Thi Hieu, 65, former director of Ngoc Thao Co

A court in Ho Chi Minh City passed a death sentence on Nguyen Van Son, former deputy general director of the Gia Dinh Commercial Bank, for fraud

Dang Ngoc Chieu, who was prosecuted for circulating fake money in Hai Duong Province was sentenced to death while his two accomplices received life imprisonment

The Vietnam Committee for the Defence of Human Rights accused Vietnam of handing down "an increasing number of death sentences", reaching the "sad record" of 194 last year

The Supreme People's Court upheld the lower court's decision to impose the death sentence on Tang Binh, former director of Kien Giang Import-Export Co

The Ha Tinh Province Court Order Execution Council carried out the death penalty for Tran Van Truong, 38

The Hanoi Court Order Execution Council executed death row prisoner Dinh Van Mao at the Cau Nga Shooting Ground

The People's Court in Lai Chau gave a death sentence to Luong Van Pan, a Laotian, for drug trafficking in November 1998

Deputy Minister of Justice Nguyen Van Trong said around 10,000 to 14,000 prisoners were to be freed in amnesties in 2000

Ho Chi Minh City's People's Court sentenced to death three narcotics traffickers, Tran Van Nghia, Nguyen Phuoc Duc and Nguyen Thanh Hai

Four businessmen had their death sentences upheld by the Ho Chi Minh City Supreme People's Court

In all, 194 people were sentenced to death last year

Vietnam's communist authorities impose the death penalty for a total of 29 different offences, including a string of economic crimes as well as murder, treason, drug trafficking, sexual offences against children and serious cases of armed robbery

At least 76 prisoners were executed in 1999 for drug trafficking in the Southeast Asian nation