A Kenyan woman condemned to death in Vietnam after found guilty of drug trafficking has been spared by the hangman. Margaret Nduta took a heavy breath as Vietnamese court changed her death penalty to life sentence.
Nduta, was arrested in July 2023 at the Hoh Chi Minh airport for allegedly trafficking two kilograms of narcotics. In Vietnam, the laws prescribe that those netted trafficking a 100 grams or more of narcotics should be hanged.
Nduta was found guilty of the offense. However, the recent amendments of Vietnam’s Penal Code salvaged the situation as drug traffickers were exempted from death penalty.
At a past Supreme Court sitting in Hoh Chi Minh City, pleaded that she was a passenger in transit to Laos, a nearby country. She said the drugs were loaded in her traveling bag without her knowledge.
The Supreme Court judges found her guilty of the offence but deemed that she was guilty but reviewed the sentence downward from death penalty to life imprisonment.
According to Vietnam Authorities, Nduta has another opportunity to seek for mercy, however, the powers of mercy are vested on the Vietnam President.
The Kenyan government intervened after Kenyans outcry on the death sentence handed to Nduta by Vietnam Supreme court.
Prime Cabinet Secretary and Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Cabinet Secretary, Musalia Mudavadi said the government was pursuing all the diplomatic channels to save Nduta.
Mudavadi, gave alarming figures that over 1,000 Kenyans were incarcerated abroad.
“However, those travelling abroad must be very vigilant those laws used in other countries are very different from ours. Do not engage in illegal trade and cry that the government has forgotten you,” said Mudavadi in his last statement about Nduta’s incident.
