Pubdate: Mon,  1 May 2000
Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN)
Copyright: 2000 The LeaderPost Ltd.
Contact:  1964 Park Street, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada S4P 3G4
Fax: (306) 565-2588
Website: http://www.leader-post.sk.ca/
Author: Jason Warick

EXECUTION BEWILDERS GROUP

SASKATOON -- The head of Amnesty International Canada says it's unclear 
whether more vocal protests would have saved a Canadian seamstress from a 
Vietnamese firing squad last week.

"Human rights activism always involves choices. Whether more public 
advocacy would have saved her life, we don't know," Alex Neve said during a 
news conference Saturday morning at the Augustana Lutheran Church on 7th St. E.

"Things started to look promising for a while. In the end, they chose the 
most brutal, secretive methods possible."

Canadian seamstress Nguyen Thi Hiep, 43, was convicted of drug smuggling 
two years ago.

Both the Canadian government and Amnesty International worked behind the 
scenes to have her death sentence put off.

They were supposedly assured the execution was on hold.

Then last week, despite new information which raised questions about Hiep's 
guilt, she was blindfolded, gagged and shot to death by firing squad 
outside a Vietnamese prison.

The Vietnamese foreign ministry justified their decision last week by 
saying Hiep was "caught red-handed."

Canadian officials are outraged and are preparing sanctions against 
Vietnam. Neve said he is confident the Canadian government did all they 
could. Neve said he is confident the Canadian government did all they 
could. The "quiet diplomacy" employed by the Canadian government and 
Amnesty may not have been the best choice, but it also may have prolonged 
Hiep's life.

The Vietnamese government, as a legacy of the Vietnam war, takes offence at 
foreign intervention. Neve said a loud, public campaign may have causedthem 
to execute her even sooner.

Hiep's mother was also convicted at the same time, and received a life 
sentence. Vietnamese officials are freeing 12,000 prisoners from their 
jails to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, 
and Neve hopes the Canadian woman will be among them.

Neve is on a Western Canadian tour of Amnesty chapters, and spent the 
weekend with some members of the 90-member Saskatoon chapter.

He said Amnesty is working to ensure respect for human rights right now in 
countries such as Sierra Leone, Sudan and Colombia.
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