U.S. citizen to die for wife murder

U.S. citizen to die for wife murder

HANOI (AFP): A Vietnamese-American has been sentenced to death in Ho Chi Minh City for killing his wife, a court said Tuesday.

Nguyen Dinh Xung, 52, an American national, was arrested by police in June 1999 for killing his wife, Le Thi Minh Xuan, "in a barbaric manner" by stabbing her several times in a hotel in the southern city.

Xung had believed his wife, 51, also an American citizen, was having an affair, a court official said.

After the attack, Xung fled to a hotel in the province of Ba Rai-Vung Tau where he was arrested by police.

He was sentenced on Thursday and has 15 days to file an appeal, according to Vietnamese law.

Death sentences for foreigners are rare in Vietnam.

A Canadian, originally from Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Hiep, was executed at the end of April in Hanoi for drugs trafficking.

His execution, the first of a foreign citizen in Vietnam, caused the Canadian government to impose diplomatic sanctions against Hanoi.