HANOI, Aug 28 (AFP) - A Vietnamese court on Wednesday sentenced an Australian woman to death for drugs trafficking, a court official in Ho Chi Minh City said.

Le My Linh, who is of Vietnamese origin, stood trial in Ho Chi Minh City where she was arrested last year for possession of heroin.

"Her trial lasted a day in the presence of members of her family, and the Australian authorities have been informed of the diplomatic and judicial formalities of the judgement," the court official said.

Linh, who is a drug addict, was part of an international drug trafficking network, according to the authorities.

She admitted soon after her arrest to receiving 30,000 US dollars from another Australian of Vietnamese origin to take the drugs to Australia, police said.

She has two weeks in which to appeal, according to the court official.

Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said in Canberra the Australian government was deeply concerned about the sentence and had made its opposition to the death penalty clear to the Vietnamese government.

"Australia is universally and consistently opposed to capital punishment and supports its abolition," he said in a statement.

Downer said Linh was expected to appeal and the matter could be heard within three months.

"If the death penalty is imposed and confirmed on appeal, we will seek to have the sentence commuted to a custodial sentence," Downer said.

He said Linh was charged with possession of 888 grams (31 ounces) of heroin and 209 grams of diazepam.

She was arrested in November 2001 while trying to leave the international airport in Ho Chi Minh City for Australia. The drugs were hidden in her luggage.

According to Vietnamese law, people found in possession of more than 300 grams of heroin or 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of opium face the death penalty.

Another Australian citizen of Vietnamese origin, Nguyen Thi Kim Hieu, 34, was arrested in January of this year for trafficking 800 grams of heroin from Ho Chi Minh to Australia. She could also possibly get the death penalty.

In April 2000, a Canadian national from Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Hiep, was executed by a firing squad in Hanoi after being convicted for trafficking five kilograms of heroin. She was the first Westerner to be executed for the crime in Vietnam.

Eight foreign drug traffickers have been executed in Vietnam since 1995, when Wong Chi-Sing from Hong Kong was put to death for trafficking five kilograms of heroin.

Downer said officials from the Australian Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City had attended Linh's trial and consular officials had also been in touch with her family.

Consular officials in Vietnam would visit her as soon as possible, he said.

Downer said he wrote to Vietnam's Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien on Wednesday to reiterate the opposition to the death penalty that Australia had voiced throughout the trial.

"On my instructions, Australia's ambassador to Vietnam made representations to the Vietnamese authorities to make our position clear in the lead-up to the trial," he said.

Downer said Australia's opposition to the death penalty and concerns about Le's sentence did not diminish its support for firm penalties for drug trafficking offences.

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