A Vietnamese court on Tuesday sentenced a dissident to five years' prison for spreading propaganda against the communist state and for disrupting security, the sixth activist to be jailed in a week.
Lawyer Tran Quoc Hien, 42, received three years' prison for anti-state propaganda and two years for disrupting security, to be followed by two years' probation, said Ho Chi Minh City People's court official Phan Ba.
The half-day trial of Hien, which was open to the media, was the most recent in a series of arrests and trials of political activists in Vietnam that have drawn protests from Western governments and human rights groups.
Vietnam's foreign ministry on Monday reiterated its position that it does not jail people for their political views, only for breaking the law.
"As we have said time and time again, the Vietnamese government has always respected the rights to freedom and democracy, including the freedom of speech," the government said in a statement.
"In Vietnam, no one is arrested for their political or religious beliefs. Only those who have breached the law are punished."
Hien, the former director of the Saigon Legal Consultancy, was a member of the underground pro-democracy movement Bloc 8406 launched over a year ago and a spokesman for a banned workers' and farmers' organization.
The state-controlled Phap Luat (Vietnam Law) daily said Hien "visited reactionary Web sites to exchange anti-state views with some reactionaries under the cover of fighting for freedom, democracy and human rights in Vietnam.
It reported: "He wrote articles and disseminated them on the Internet to slander and distort the policy of the party and state of Vietnam."
"More seriously, he organized and gathered people with complaints for a demonstration," it said.
The Tien Phong newspaper said Hien had encouraged people "to demonstrate, causing political instability during the US delegation's trip to Vietnam for the APEC [Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation] summit in November 2006."
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
RSS