MARGARET NDUTA SPARED FROM DEATH PENALTY AND HANDED LIFE SENTENCE

The Vietnamese People's Supreme Court has converted the death penalty for Kenyan Margaret Nduta to a life sentence. Nduta was due for execution after being convicted of substance trafficking. The court's decision follows an appeal initiated by Kenya earlier in the year; Nairobi argued that Nduta was not represented during her trial.
Despite the appeal, the Kenyan's lifeline was still dependent on the Vietnamese court. They reserved the right to consider the appeal or allow the execution. The decision to annul the death penalty was announced on Thursday, July 31 2025.
It comes after the Vietnamese government forwent capital punishment for a host of criminal offences, trafficking of narcotics being one of them. In the course of the amendment to the Penal Code, the Ministry of Public Security argued that the punishment materialises in rare occurrences and sparingly, hence no need to have it in place, adding that it sidelines Vietnam from other international jurisdictions that have either scrapped capital punishment or reduced its scope. Despite the review of the Vietnamese Penal Code, the death penalty remains for the offences deemed heinous, including murder, child sexual abuse, acts of terrorism, treason and extreme cases of drug trafficking.
The penalty is executed through lethal injection. Meanwhile, Nduta's predicament kicked off in July 2023. The 37-year-old was arrested at Tan Son Nhat International Airport after authorities discovered two kilograms of illicit drugs in her luggage. She had allegedly been paid by another unknown Kenyan to transport a suitcase to Laos, which neighbours Vietnam in the north.
Court papers during her trial showed she was instructed to deliver the suitcase to a contact in Lao and return with unidentified items. Nduta, according to the Vietnamese state prosecution, was paid an advance of $1,300 (about KSh 170,000), and her travel expenses, including airfare, were fully covered.