A Vietnamese court has rejected an appeal by an Australian woman of Vietnamese origin who is facing the death penalty for drug trafficking.
Le My Linh (43) was convicted and sentenced to death in August by the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City for trying to smuggle 881.8 grammes (about two pounds) of heroin to Sydney in November 2001. She pleaded guilty.
"The death sentence against Linh remains unchanged," a People's Supreme Court of Appeal in the city told journalists after today's half-day hearing.
"She now returns to the prison and has seven days to ask for clemency from the state president before her execution".
Smuggling 600 grammes of heroin is punishable by death or life imprisonment in Vietnam, where executions are carried out by firing squad.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said in a statement he was "disappointed the court upheld the death sentence", a spokesman said in Canberra.
Mr Downer wrote in August to his Vietnamese counterpart and is again writing to the Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien about the case, the spokesman said. "Australia is universally and consistently opposed to capital punishment," he added.