NAIROBI, Kenya – Kenyan national Margaret Nduta has escaped execution in Vietnam after the country’s Supreme Court commuted her death sentence to life imprisonment in a landmark ruling delivered on Thursday.
Nduta had been facing the death penalty after she was convicted of trafficking two kilograms of narcotics—an offence that, until recently, carried a mandatory death sentence under Vietnam’s strict drug laws.
However, her fate changed following recent reforms to the Vietnamese Penal Code, which removed the automatic death sentence for several crimes, including certain drug offences.
The new law, effective from July 2, 2025, now offers courts more discretion in sentencing and grants offenders like Nduta a chance to avoid execution.
Under the amended legislation, drug traffickers may face up to 40 years in prison or life imprisonment instead of death.
The reforms also open a path for presidential clemency, giving Nduta an opportunity to seek a further reduction in her sentence.
Her case had attracted considerable attention both in Kenya and abroad, highlighting the growing number of Kenyan nationals imprisoned across Asia on drug-related charges.
Human rights groups have welcomed the ruling as a positive step but cautioned that harsher penalties alone are unlikely to stop transnational drug trafficking.
“Margaret Nduta’s cruel death will not stop the trade. By all accounts, she was not the mastermind but a mule in a trade that will immediately find another mule to transport the drugs of addiction and death,” said Amnesty International Kenya Executive Director Irungu Houghton.
Houghton reiterated Amnesty’s longstanding opposition to capital punishment, calling it “a cruel and inhumane punishment for all crimes.”
Until this month, Vietnam retained the death penalty for 22 offences, including murder, treason, corruption, and drug trafficking involving more than 100 grams of narcotics.
While the recent reforms offer some reprieve, prisons across the country continue to house hundreds of foreign nationals—including dozens of Kenyans—convicted on serious charges.
Back home, Nduta’s case has reignited calls for the government to ramp up awareness campaigns targeting youth and potential drug mules, many of whom are lured by international trafficking networks with promises of quick money.
Her legal team has indicated plans to pursue clemency, although it remains unclear whether Vietnamese authorities will consider the request favorably.
As for now, Nduta begins a life sentence in one of Southeast Asia’s toughest prison systems—spared the hangman’s noose, but not the weight of justice.
