At a glance-
Freedom on the Net 2017: Vietnam
Blogger prosecutions intensified in 2017, culminating in a 10-year prison sentence for the activist using the penname Mother Mushroom in June [2016]
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Vietnam HRW Report: Events of 2016
The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in 2016 maintained its control over all public affairs and punished those who challenged its monopoly on power. Authorities restricted basic rights, including freedom of speech, opinion, association, and assembly. All religious groups had to register with the government and operate under surveillance. Bloggers and activists faced daily police harassment and intimidation, and were subject to arbitrary house arrest, restricted movement, and physical assaults.
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Freedom of the Press 2016: Vietnam
Police harassed and detained journalists, bloggers, and employees of the newly established YouTube news broadcaster Conscience TV.
Alert
Trial set to begin for journalist Nguyen Hoang Linh
Incident details
Nguyen Hoang Linh journalist(s) legal action(RSF/IFEX) - According to RSF, the trial of Vietnamese journalist Nguyen
Hoang Linh for "damaging the interests of the state, social organisations
and citizens" is due to begin in a Hanoi court on 21 October 1998. He had
exposed corruption among top Vietnamese customs officials in 1997. RSF said:
"Nguyen Hoang Linh was only doing his job as a journalist by exposing a case
of corruption in the Vietnamese administration. He has already been in
prison for too long: he should be released and acquitted, because he has
committed no crime except that of seeking the truth."
**Updates IFEX alerts of 27 May 1998 and 14 October 1997**
Former editor of the weekly "Doanh Nghiep" (Entreprise), Nguyen Hoang Linh
was arrested and jailed on 8 October 1997 in Hanoi after publishing a series
of reports condemning corruption in the importing of Ukrainian patrol boats.
The journalist, who was allowed no visits from his family for more than five
months, was dismissed from his job as editor in September 1997. He was
initially charged with "violating state secrets."
According to information gathered by RSF, the one-day trial will stand in
camera. Only two relatives of Nguyen Hoang Linh, his father and his wife, as
well as one person from his newspaper's staff, are allowed to attend. The
journalist will be assisted by a lawyer he hired after having refused to be
defended by an "official" lawyer.Vietnamese authorities have asked Nguyen
Hoang Linh to confess his "mistakes" before he can be released. The
journalist refused to do so in order to be tried.
By acquitting Nguyen Hoang Linh, the Vietnamese government would be making
another move towards press freedom following the presidential amnesty
granted to three other journalists - Doan Viet Hoat, Nguyen Dan Que and
Nguyen Van Thuan - on 1 September. RSF also calls on the government to pass
a law that would allow an independent press to flourish in Vietnam. The
organisation also asks the government to sign and ratify the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees freedom of
expression.
Source
Reporters Without Borders
47, rue Vivienne
75002 Paris
France
rsf (@) rsf.org
Fax:+33 1 45 23 11 51
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- Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC)
- Aliansi Jurnalis Independen/Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI)
- Bytes for All (B4A)
- Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR)
- Cambodian Centre for Independent Media (CCIM)
- Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR)
- Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ)
- Digital Rights Foundation
- Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ)
- Freedom Forum
- Free Media Movement
- Globe International Center
- Hong Kong Journalists Association
- Institute for the Studies on Free Flow of Information
- Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance
- Media Matters for Democracy
- Media Watch
- Mizzima News
- Pacific Freedom Forum (PFF)
- Pacific Islands News Association
- Pakistan Press Foundation
- SFLC.in
- Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)
- Thai Journalists Association
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