HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- 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 says.
President Nguyen Minh Triet commuted Le Manh Luong's sentence last month, the British Embassy said in a statement Friday.
The British government "is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances," it said.
The embassy said the British government made a number of appeals to spare Luong from the firing squad.
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
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