Vietnam court sentences 11 to death for drug trafficking

A court in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, sentenced 11 people to death for drug trafficking, weeks after the government proposed abolishing capital punishment for that crime. The sentences were handed down in a major case involving 227 defendants, linked to a transnational network smuggling drugs from France. The investigation began after authorities found over 10 kilograms of drugs hidden in toothpaste tubes at an airport in March 2023. At least 20 other defendants received life sentences. The proposed legal changes, which would limit the death penalty to four crimes, have not yet taken effect.