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US activist held in Vietnam

A Vietnamese-born US citizen and pro-democracy activist has been arrested during a return visit to the country, his family, dissidents and a human rights group said yesterday.

Cong Thanh Do, a 47-year-old computer engineer from California, was detained on Aug. 14, accused of conspiring to launch a terrorist attack against the US consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, and has been held ever since, they said.

During a meeting with US consular officials on Friday, Do said he was a senior member of the banned People's Democratic Party of Vietnam and said he would start a hunger strike that day until his freedom or his death, the relatives said.

He "stated his opposition to the current political status of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and that his mission is to promote a multi-party democratic system strictly through non-violence," the family said in a statement. "He has denied all terrorist accusations, including any attempts to bomb the US Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City."

US diplomats and Vietnamese declined to comment on the case.

The Vietnamese dissident-run "Dialogue" Web site said Do, who had used the alias "Tran Nam," had been arrested along with two other key members of the banned party, Nguyen Hoang Long and Huynh Viet Lang.

A spokesman for the New York-based group Human Rights Watch said: "We are aware of Cong Thanh Do's arrest and are monitoring the case closely."

He said Do's alias "Tran Nam" had been mentioned in the indictment of prominent dissident Pham Hong Son.

Son was released last week after serving four-and-a-half years in prison on espionage charges, for communicating with overseas dissidents and publishing pro-democracy writings online.
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