An Australian woman faces a firing squad after a Vietnamese appeal court sentenced her to death for heroin trafficking.

Jasmine Luong had been jailed for life by a lower court when she was convicted of attempting to smuggle 1.5kg of heroin on to a flight to Australia.

But the prosecution appealed, pushing for the death penalty, and yesterday the appeal court in Ho Chi Minh City increased her sentence, the state-run newspaper Liberation Saigon said.

Luong, 34, who lives in Sydney, has 15 days to appeal directly to the president, Nguyen Minh Triet. She was arrested in February last year at Tan Son Nhat international airport in Ho Chi Minh City, while boarding a flight. Customs officials found 1.5kg of heroin in her shoes and luggage.

Luong told appeal court judges that an unidentified man had given her an advance of $4,700 (£2,350) to take the drug to Australia, where she would receive a further $10,300 (£5,150).

Vietnam has some of the world's harshest drugs laws. Possessing, trading or trafficking in more than 600g of heroin or 20kg of opium carries a sentence of life imprisonment or death.

Several Australians of Vietnamese descent have been arrested in recent years for smuggling heroin to Australia.