Vietnamese Bloggers Charged For “Anti-State Propaganda”

The US government and human rights groups have expressed alarm over growing restrictions around the internet in Vietnam – most recently demonstrated by the Vietnamese authorities’ decision to charge three bloggers for conducting “propaganda against the state.”

Three bloggers, Nguyen Van Hai, Phan Thanh Hai and Ta Phong Tan, were charged on Monday with posting articles on their respective blogs that opposed the state and “propagating against” the socialist country. The charges carry up to twenty years in prison if they are convicted, under Article 88 of Vietnam’s penal code.

“As in other countries, those who violate the law will be disciplined with severely according to law provisions,” said a spokesperson from Vietnamese government’s press department.

The bloggers are currently awaiting trial, scheduled for this Tuesday but unexpectedly postponed. But the three are not unfamiliar with backlash from the Vietnamese authorities for their work. The bloggers belong to and have contributed articles to the “Free Journalists Club,” a rare independent media organization in a state where official media is heavily controlled and websites like Facebook are periodically restricted.

One of the most famous of the activists, Nguyen Hoang Hai (also known as Dieu Cay), has been in prison since 2008 on tax fraud charges, according to human rights groups who have labeled him a “prisoner of conscience”.

“The persecution of Nguyen Hoang Hai is blatant and unjust. He is detained and faces trial solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression,” said Donna Guest, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Programme.

A report in the state-run Thanh Nien newspaper said that the bloggers posted 421 articles on the Independent Journalists’ Club website between September 2007 and October 2010, and accused them of “distorting the truth, denigrating the party and state”.

Representatives from the US State Department expressed concern over the cases, saying they are part of a “disturbing pattern” of increasing restrictions around Internet-speech in Vietnam.

The bloggers have also been accused of attending courses aimed at overthrowing the government, the Associated Press reported. They have written articles critical of China’s foreign policy regarding Vietnam, participated in protests and used their blogs to promote human rights and freedom of expression in the country.

“Blogging is an escape route for those whose ideas and actions are imprisoned. It allows one to express resistance against injustice and violence,” said one of the convicted bloggers, Phan Thanh Hai, in a blogpost back in 2007, according to a release from Human Rights Watch, one of the human rights groups who have been following the bloggers writing since their Free Journalists Club was established.

“With more than seven hundred state-controlled media outlets and thousands of pro-government web portals, the Vietnam government has a giant propaganda machine working to beautify the face of the state,” said Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division. “So what do the authorities have to fear from a handful of bloggers?”

Responding to queries from the Wall Street Journal, representatives from the Vietnamese government added that the prosecution and trial of the bloggers “was conducted in accordance with the procedure and criminal law provisions of Vietnam.”

In a 2011 report, Reporters Without Borders labeled Vietnam as an “enemy of the internet,” and has accused the government of using cyberattacks to silence dissidents on the internet.

– Source: Wall Street Journal: April 18, 2012 Nguyen Anh Thu contributed to this report