Over the past couple of decades, Vietnam has done an excellent job of reminding the world that it has a beautiful coastline, picturesque mountains, cultural treasures, and delicious food. Which helps the world forget that the country also has one of the world’s worst human rights records when it comes to political persecution. And things are getting worse.
Sixty-two-year-old blogger Pham Viet Dao is the latest victim of Vietnam’s crackdown on political discourse, having been arrested for “abusing democratic freedoms.” Dao, a former official at the Ministry of Culture and long-standing member of the Vietnamese Communist Party, operated a well-known blog — now taken down — critical of government leaders and policies. He didn’t shy aware from writing about politically sensitive issues, like Vietnam’s territorial disputes with China, for his thousands of followers. And today that earned him a 15-month prison sentence.
“The reality is that Vietnam is a semi-authoritarian, one-party state controlled by the communist party of Vietnam,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) Asia Advocacy Director John Sifton told VICE News. “There is no democracy, no freedom of expression, and people are locked up all the time for political dissent.”
This year, Vietnam imprisoned twice as many people for political dissent as it did just a few years ago.
That said, Dao may have gotten off easy. In the past, political dissenters in Vietnam faced one to three years in prison. But for the past few years, the government has been relentlessly cracking down on people who criticize it, handing out sentences of up to seven years in prison — and that’s after holding some people in captivity for years before even granting them a trial.
While increasing access to social-media platforms helps people in Vietnam express their beliefs, it also helps the government identify dissenters. This year alone, Vietnam has convicted and locked up 64 political prisoners — twice as many as it did just a few years ago. HRW believes there are also hundreds more political prisoners who’ve been jailed without trials. The government has full authority to arrest Vietnamese citizens for disseminating propaganda, criticizing the government, undermining the state — or abusing democratic freedoms. In other words, for anything the government doesn’t like.
And talking politics isn’t the only way to get yourself in trouble in Vietnam. Religious activists are often harassed and imprisoned. Ethnic minorities are punished for attempting to organize to fight discrimination. State-run drug rehabilitation centers even force detainees to produce goods for exportation.
Last year, the Network of Vietnamese Bloggers was formed to campaign against the government’s human rights violations. The inspiration for forming the group? Vietnam’s election to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Height Insoles: Hi, I do believe this is an excellent site. I stumbledupon …
http://fishinglovers.net: Appreciate you sharing, great post.Thanks Again. Keep writi…
Achilles Pain causes: Every weekend i used to pay a quick visit this site, as i w…
March 20, 2014
It’s a Bad Time to Be a Politics Blogger in Vietnam
by Nhan Quyen • Pham Viet Dao
Over the past couple of decades, Vietnam has done an excellent job of reminding the world that it has a beautiful coastline, picturesque mountains, cultural treasures, and delicious food. Which helps the world forget that the country also has one of the world’s worst human rights records when it comes to political persecution. And things are getting worse.
Sixty-two-year-old blogger Pham Viet Dao is the latest victim of Vietnam’s crackdown on political discourse, having been arrested for “abusing democratic freedoms.” Dao, a former official at the Ministry of Culture and long-standing member of the Vietnamese Communist Party, operated a well-known blog — now taken down — critical of government leaders and policies. He didn’t shy aware from writing about politically sensitive issues, like Vietnam’s territorial disputes with China, for his thousands of followers. And today that earned him a 15-month prison sentence.
“The reality is that Vietnam is a semi-authoritarian, one-party state controlled by the communist party of Vietnam,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) Asia Advocacy Director John Sifton told VICE News. “There is no democracy, no freedom of expression, and people are locked up all the time for political dissent.”
That said, Dao may have gotten off easy. In the past, political dissenters in Vietnam faced one to three years in prison. But for the past few years, the government has been relentlessly cracking down on people who criticize it, handing out sentences of up to seven years in prison — and that’s after holding some people in captivity for years before even granting them a trial.
While increasing access to social-media platforms helps people in Vietnam express their beliefs, it also helps the government identify dissenters. This year alone, Vietnam has convicted and locked up 64 political prisoners — twice as many as it did just a few years ago. HRW believes there are also hundreds more political prisoners who’ve been jailed without trials. The government has full authority to arrest Vietnamese citizens for disseminating propaganda, criticizing the government, undermining the state — or abusing democratic freedoms. In other words, for anything the government doesn’t like.
And talking politics isn’t the only way to get yourself in trouble in Vietnam. Religious activists are often harassed and imprisoned. Ethnic minorities are punished for attempting to organize to fight discrimination. State-run drug rehabilitation centers even force detainees to produce goods for exportation.
Last year, the Network of Vietnamese Bloggers was formed to campaign against the government’s human rights violations. The inspiration for forming the group? Vietnam’s election to the United Nations Human Rights Council.