Vietnamese police have arrested a prominent dissident they have accused of conducting activities aimed at overthrowing the government, in what appeared to be latest effort by the communist-ruled nation to crack down on critics.
Police in central Nghe An said Le Dinh Luong, 51, was arrested on Monday.
They said on their news Web site Luong had conducted “regular activities with the aim to overthrow the authority and complicate local security,” but did not elaborate.
It was not possible to contact Luong and it was not known if he had legal representation.
Despite sweeping reforms to the economy and growing openness to social change, including gay, lesbian and transgender rights, Vietnam’s Communist Party retains tight media censorship and does not tolerate criticism.
Several dissidents and bloggers voiced support for Luong online. With information tightly controlled by the government, some critics take to Web blogs to air their grievances and social media sites, including Facebook, are hugely popular.
Last month, a Vietnamese court jailed prominent blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, known as “Me Nam” (Mother Mushroom), for 10 years for publishing propaganda against the state.
According to her lawyer, Quynh was found guilty and sentenced at a one-day trial, six months after she was arrested for posting what police described as anti-state reports, including one about civilians dying in custody.
Luong and Quynh had both spoken out against a subsidiary of Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics Corp, which caused one of Vietnam’s biggest environmental disasters in April.
New York-based Human Rights Watch released a report earlier last month that said Vietnamese human rights bloggers were being beaten and intimidated.
Separately, dissident Tran Thi Nga, who was also arrested in January on charges of promoting propaganda against the state, went on trial yesterday.
State media said Nga was arrested while she was accessing the Internet to post a number of video clips and articles that oppose the state.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese