Woman Escapes Death Sentence By Impregnating Herself - See How

The northern province of Quang Ninh has suspended four officers at a local prison after a drug trafficker on death row managed to get herself pregnant in an apparent attempt to avoid the penalty. The woman, Nguyen Thi Hue, 42, is expected to give birth in April.

She was arrested in Quang Ninh in 2012 for drug trafficking. She was found guilty and sentenced to death in 2014. She bought some sperm from Nguyen Tuan Hung, 27, a male inmate for VND50 million (over US$2,200). Hung handed over his semen and syringes to Hue twice in August 2015.

She got pregnant after inseminating herself. In Vietnam, a pregnant woman or a mother whose child is less than 36 months old cannot be sentenced to death. Death sentences, if already handed down, will have to be reduced to life imprisonment.

In a similar case in 2007, two corrections officers in Hoa Binh Province were jailed after letting a woman on death row have sex with a male inmate and become pregnant. The woman, Nguyen Thi Oanh, had been sentenced to death for drug smuggling. She gave birth to a boy in March 2007 and managed to avoid the sentence.