Vietnam: free expression in free fall

September 6th, 2012

Dissent has suffered a crackdown in Vietnam in recent years, with bloggers often being the main target. Geoffrey Cain asks what has prompted this backlash against free speech (more…)

Vietnam: Reporters beaten

May 11th, 2012

Two Vietnamese reporters were beaten while covering a local eviction. Nguyen Ngoc Nam and Han Phi Long, from state-run Radio Voice of Vietnam, were kicked and beaten as they attempted to report on the eviction of approximately 1,000 villagers from their farmland. The journalists were attacked by uniformed police, who ignored repeated explanations that they were members of the press. Twenty people were arrested during the clashes between the farmers and the police.

Three Vietnamese bloggers charged with spreading “propaganda”

April 16th, 2012

Three established Vietnamese bloggers have been charged with spreading spreading anti-government propaganda. According to AP, Nguyen Van Hai, Phan Thanh Hai and Ta Phon Tan are accused of belong to the banned ”Free Journalists Club” of Vietnam and contributing 421 articles which ”distorted and opposed the State.” The three men have been detained awaiting trial, if convicted they face up to 20 years in prison.  Vietnam has a poor record on press freedom, the Communist Party maintains a tight control of the media

Vietnam: New online censorship rules drafted

April 12th, 2012

Google, Facebook, and other internet companies may be required cooperate with Vietnamese authorities in removing content from their sites, based on draft regulations that have been released by the Ministry of Information. Foreign businesses that provide online social networking platforms in Vietnam must “make pledges in writing” to follow local censorship laws and remove information, including that which is against the Vietnamese government, damages “social and national security” or promotes violence, newspaper Thanh Hien News said. The new rules will be considered for approval in June.

Vietnam: Journalist who exposed corruption arrested

January 4th, 2012

Vietnamese journalist Nguyen Van Khuong was arrested this week on suspicion of bribery after he ran an expose on corruption among traffic police in his newspaper, Tuoi Tre. The reporter is said to have paid a bribe of 15 million dong (458 GBP) to a police officer to secure the release of an impounded vehicle. The officer in question was arrested after Khuong’s story was published, and Khuong was suspended by the paper on 3 December. Tuoi Tre quoted him as saying he had made an error in gathering evidence for a series of stories about police corruption, but he did not say he had provided the bribe.

Vietnam: Blogger Pham Minh Hoang’s jail term reduced

November 29th, 2011

A Vietnamese court have halved the jail sentence of a blogger after international pressure from government’s and NGO’s. Pham Minh Hoang was sentenced to three years imprisonment for attempted subversion in August this year after he wrote 33 articles under a pseudonym, which were ruled by the court to ”blacken the image of the country” and aimed to topple the government. Hoang will be released on January 13 after serving a 17-month sentence, but will then serve three years of house arrest.

Urgent appeal to release Pham Minh Hoang

October 4th, 2011

October 4, 2011

Nguyen Tan Dung
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Office of the State
1 Bach Thao
Hanoi, Vietnam

CC:
French Foreign Ministry
Alain Juppé
Ministere des Affaires etrangeres
37, Quai d’Orsay
75351 Paris
France

Dear Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung,

We, international digital freedom and human rights organizations, call on the Government of Vietnam to release blogger, human rights defender, and lecturer Pham Minh Hoang.

Mr Hoang, a dual French-Vietnamese citizen sentenced on August 10 to three years in prison and an additional three years house arrest, is a well-known blogger whose articles on education, the environment, and Vietnamese sovereignty in respect to China have been widely read. He is also a lecturer in applied mathematics at the Ho Chi Minh City Polytechnic Institute, an activist campaigning against bauxite mining by Chinese firms, and has participated in conferences on Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly Islands. Mr Hoang has worked tirelessly to promote human rights and to empower and encourage civic participation among his pupils and peers.

At Mr Hoang’s trial, Judge Vu Phi Long ruled that his writings had “blackened the image of the country” and were “aimed at overthrowing the people’s government.” Mr. Hoang, on the contrary, has claimed that he was exercising his free speech and was unaware that he had committed any crimes.

We would like to remind the Government of Vietnam that Mr Hoang’s blogging activities, as well as his activism, are guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Vietnam is a party to, as well as by Articles 35, 50, 53, and 69 of the Vietnamese Constitution.

We call on Vietnamese authorities to recognize Mr. Hoang’s right to expression, and to lift any charges or convictions related to his protected expressive activities, and — with these charges lifted — to ensure his release.
Signed,

Action des chrétiens pour l’abolition de la torture
ARTICLE 19
Committee of Concerned Scientists
Committee to Protect Journalists
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Front Line Defenders
Index on Censorship
PEN International
Reporters Without Borders
Scholars at Risk

Vietnam: Pro-democracy activists released

August 30th, 2011

On 2 September, the Vietnamese government granted amnesty to 10,000 detainees, including blogger Nguyen Van Tinh and poet Tran Duch Thach, in celebration of the nation’s 66th anniversary of independence. The pair were convicted of “propaganda against the socialist state” for hanging pro-democracy banners in Haiphong in October 2009. Tinh was handed a three and a half year sentence for the crime, while Thach was sentenced to three years.