DIGITAL FREEDOM NETWORK: Human rights and cyber-rights news ________________________________________________________________________________ Internet activist arrested in Vietnam by John DeSio, Digital Freedom Network (April 24, 2002) Once again, Vietnam has taken a drastic step to curb the processing of information in that country. In late March, the Vietnam government arrested Pham Hong Son, an anti-government dissident, for publishing texts critical of the nation's communist regime on the Internet. Son is the third dissident arrested in recent months, following the arrests of Tran Khue, Bui Minh Quoc, and Le Chi Quang on similar charges in March. Son was arrested by detectives of the country's Ministry of Public Security in order to "clarify the level of his infringement," said a government statement. The statement further explained that Son had sent and received "anti-state and anti-Vietnam Communist Party documents." "Although (he) was reminded and educated many times by authorities and functional agencies, Son still deliberately infringed," said the statement. Reporters Without Borders, a journalism advocacy group, has called for Son's release, calling his arrest "a callous confirmation of the Vietnamese authorities' intention to censure freedom of expression on the Internet." Arrested after publishing articles on Internet According to reports Son, a doctor and sales representative for a pharmaceutical company, was detained for translating and publishing an article titled "What is Democracy?" on the Internet. The article had previously been published on a United States embassy web site. After publishing the article, Son was questioned by police, and a search of his home was later conducted. What you can do: The Democracy Club for Vietnam has urged that those sympathetic to the plight of the four men contact the United States embassy in Vietnam and voice their opinions. The embassy can be contacted at: 7 Lang Ha Street Telephone: 844-772-1500 FAX number: 844-772-1510, or the Public Affairs Section at 6 Ngoc Khanh, 3rd Floor, Hanoi, Vietnam Telephone: 844-831-4580. They can also be emailed at irchano@pd.state.gov Later, Son's home was searched, and personal belongings, such as his computer equipment and personal papers, were seized by the police. After finding himself unable to retrieve his belongings, Son published an article on the Internet protesting the search of his home and the seizure of his papers, and was detained shortly thereafter. Son is also the author of a number of articles, including "Democracy promotion: a key focus in a new world order" and "Sovereignty and human rights: the search for reconciliation," published on the Internet forums Danchu.net and Ykien.net, both dedicated to promoting democracy. On March 6, Son sent one of his articles, entitled "Promising signals for democracy in Vietnam," to the Secretary-General of the Vietnamese Community Party, General Nong Duc Manh. Khue and Quang were arrested for publishing articles on the Internet critical of the conditions under which the Vietnamese government signed border agreements with Beijing officials. Two other dissident writers, Ha Sy Phu and Quoc, are also currently being held by the Vietnamese government. ________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright (c) 2002 Digital Freedom Network (http://dfn.org). All rights reserved. This article may be reproduced or redistributed for online not-for-profit use without prior written consent as long as DFN is recognized with this credit. For information about DFN's permissions policy, see <http://dfn.org/about/permissions.htm>. ========== HURIDOCS-Tech listserv ========== Send mail intended for the list to <huridocs-tech@hrea.org>. Archives of the list can be found at: http://www.hrea.org/lists/huridocs-tech/markup/maillist.php To subscribe to the list, send a message to <majordomo@hrea.org>, with the following text in the message: subscribe huridocs-tech To unsubscribe from the list, send a message to <majordomo@hrea.org>, with the following text in the message: unsubscribe huridocs-tech If you have problems (un)subscribing, contact <owner-huridocs-tech@hrea.org>.
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