VIETNAM APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR BRITISH CITIZEN

a Vietnam appeals court upheld the death sentence imposed on a British citizen of Vietnamese origin who was convicted of heroin trafficking, state-controlled media reported. Le Manh Luong, 46, was sentenced to death in November 2006 for participating in a heroin ring that trafficked 339 kilograms (746 pounds) of heroin from Laos. On Friday, an appeals court in the city of Da Nang upheld the death sentence, issued last year by a lower court in Quang Binh province, that condemned Luong and two other Vietnamese defendants to death by firing squad, the newspaper said.