A Vietnamese-born British citizen condemned to death for heroin trafficking has had his sentence commuted to life in prison by Vietnam's president, the British Embassy said Friday.
President Nguyen Minh Triet commuted Le Manh Luong's sentence last month after several British government appeals to spare him from the firing squad, the embassy said in a statement.
The British government "is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances. It is our policy to make representations at any stage and level deemed appropriate when a British national faces the death penalty," it said.
In 2006, Luong and three other Vietnamese defendants were sentenced to death for their involvement in a drug ring that trafficked 339 kilograms (746 pounds) of heroin from Laos to Hong Kong and China via Vietnam.
An appeals court last year upheld the death sentences.
Vietnam's drug laws are among the world's toughest. Possession, trading or trafficking more than 600 grams (1.3 pounds) of heroin or 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of opium is punishable by death.
Each year Vietnam sentences about 100 people to death by firing squad, many for drug-related offenses.
