A policeman guards Ho Chi Minh City courthouse

VIETNAM. AUSTRALIAN WOMAN FACES FIRING SQUAD

March 18, 2008: an Australian woman of Vietnamese origin lost her court appeal and will face a firing squad in Vietnam instead of serving a life term in prison, state-run newspapers reported.
The Court of Appeals accepted a proposal by prosecutors in Ho Chi Minh City to change the sentence for Jasmine Luong, 34, who was found guilty by a lower court of trafficking heroin to Australia, the Liberation Saigon newspaper said. She now has 15 days to appeal the sentence to the president.
Luong was arrested at the city's Tan Son Nhat International Airport while boarding a flight to Melbourne in February, 2007, after the customs found 1.55 kg of heroin in her shoes and luggage, the city's customs reported. (Sources: news.ninemsn.com.au, 19/03/2008)