Freedom House Says Vietnam Is not Free in Its Latest Report

 

Defend the Defendes, March 7, 2021

 

The Washington-based Freedom House says the communist-ruled Vietnam is not free in its latest report titled Freedom in the World 2021: Democracy under Siege released on March 3.

According to Freedom House’s calculation, Vietnam has 19 points out of the total 100 points for totally free. Particularly, the Southeast Asian nation has 3 points of Political Rights and 16 points of Civil Liberties. The total points decreased by 1 point from the previous annual report of the organization.

In 2020, Vietnam arrested 37 activists and 29 land petitioners for their peaceful activities, according to Defend the Defenders’ statistics. The regime also convicted 23 activists and 29 land petitioners by the trials which failed to meet the international standards for a fair trial, sentencing two of them to death penalty and many others to lengthy imprisonments of between five years in prison and life imprisonment.

In addition, hundreds of Facebookers were imposed administrative fines up to VND30 million ($1,300) for their online posting and sharing regarding Covid-19 pandemics and the country’s issues such as systemic corruption and widespread environmental pollution. They were also requested to delete their posts.