09 July 2003 :

Four people on death-row in Vietnam, including Le My Linh, an Australian citizen of Vietnamese origin, had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. No reason was given for the commutations, which were signed by Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong. All four had earned death sentences for drug trafficking charges. Le My Linh, an Australian woman condemned to death by a Vietnamese court in 2002 on drug trafficking charges, had her sentence commuted to life imprisonment. Linh was arrested on November 17, 2001 at Ho Chi Minh City's Tan Son Nhat airport as she attempted to board a flight to Australia, she received the death penalty at a court hearing on August 28, 2002.
In late December 2002, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court rejected her appeal against the death penalty. The following month she appealed to President Tran Duc Luong for clemency.
"Based on the humanitarian tradition of Vietnam and the good relations between Vietnam and Australia, President Tran Duc Luong has decided to reduce her death sentence to life imprisonment," foreign ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh said in a brief statement.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra praised the clemency decision.
"We welcome the news that the Vietnamese authorities will not execute Le My Linh following the Australian government's support of her appeal for clemency against the death penalty," it said in a statement. Linh, 43, was convicted of possessing 888 grams of heroin and 209 grams of diazepam, an anti-anxiety drug.