July 20, 2014

Vietnamese Communist Government harassing its citizens for using Facebook

by • Dinh Nhat Uy

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Dân làm báo | 20/7/2014

Despite having gained a seat at the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, and despite having pledged strict adherence to the rules and regulations of the Council regarding human rights, Viet Nam continues to harass its citizens and especially its dissidents for voicing their thoughts on social media such as Facebook. 
giay-moiOn one hand the Communist government secretly allows as many as 80 thousands “opinion shaping” cyber police to follow, harass, threaten and report the Facebook accounts of all those who dare tell the truth about the regime, to try to shut down their activities. On the other hand it summons dissidents living in Viet Nam to the police department to question them on the use of such personal account. This is a scaring tactic used to mentally terrorize the people into silence.
Below is the summoning letter received by Mr Dinh Nhat Uy, who was already jailed for a short time in the past for using Facebook to talk about what is really going on behind closed doors in this one party authoritarian country.
THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM 
Independence – Freedom – Happiness 
* * *
Long An, 18th July 2014 
SUMMONS 
Summoning Mr/Mrs : Dinh Nhat Uy
Residential address (or place of work) Number 584 highway 62, ward 6, Tan An city, Long An province.
At exactly 8 am on the 22nd July 2014 to be present at the Security Investigation Office of Long An Police Department (address: Number 76 Chau Van Giac, ward 4, Tan An city) to answer questions on the use of a personal account on Facebook.
To bring along this summoning letter and see Investigating Officer Nguyen Van Hon.
We require Mr/ Mrs Dinh Nhat Uy be present at the indicated time and place above.
Deputy Chief of the Security Investigation Office
Colonel Nguyen Thanh Son
Mr Dinh Nhat Uy and his family has spoken out about this treatment from the Vietnamese government, saying that this is the most blatant form of violation of the freedom of speech.
A day before receiving this summoning letter, Mr Dinh Nhat Uy ‘s personal Facebook account was mass reported by the cyber police mentioned above and was temporarily locked down by Facebook ‘s automated program, designed to handle a large number of reports, but has been used as a technical loophole by the cyber police to attack those they want to shut up.
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