By Defend the Defenders, November 02, 2016
On November 2, police in Ho Chi Minh City arrested blogger Ho Van Hai, accusing him of spreading anti-state propaganda in his blog and social networks, including Facebook.
According to an electronic portal of HCMC’s Police Department, Mr. Hai had been posting a number of articles defaming the Communist Party of Vietnam and its government in his blog BS Ho Hai and Facebook account with the same penname.
Mr. Hai, 52, is charged with Article 88 of the country’s Penal Code and if he is found guilty, he may face imprisonment of up to 20 years in prison.
Mr. Hai had posted numerous articles concerning systematic corruption in Vietnam, the Chinese violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea (South Chin Sea) and environmental issues, especially the catastrophe caused by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant in the central coastal region in April-May in which hundreds of tons of fish were killed.
Hai is the second Vietnamese blogger arrested within one month. On October 10, police in the central province of Khanh Hoa detained prominent blogger and human rights defenders Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh and charged her with anti-state propaganda under Article 88.
These arrests are part of the ongoing crackdown of the Vietnamese communist government against local political dissidents, social activists and human rights defenders.
So far this year, Vietnam has imprisoned nearly two dozens of activists. A number of activists, including prominent human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai and pro-democracy campaigner Tran Anh Kim have been under police detention for months.
Many international human rights organizations and foreign democratic governments have urged Vietnam to remove controversial articles 79, 87, 88 and 258 of the Penal Code which have been used to silence local dissent. Vietnam has been a signatory of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights since 1982 so it must respect universal human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and assembly, they said.
Vietnam is imprisoning around 130 political prisoners, according to Human Rights Watch. The country was ranked 175th out of 180 on Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom index.
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November 3, 2016
Vietnam Arrests One More Blogger for Alleged Anti-state Propaganda
by Nhan Quyen • [Human Rights]
By Defend the Defenders, November 02, 2016
On November 2, police in Ho Chi Minh City arrested blogger Ho Van Hai, accusing him of spreading anti-state propaganda in his blog and social networks, including Facebook.
According to an electronic portal of HCMC’s Police Department, Mr. Hai had been posting a number of articles defaming the Communist Party of Vietnam and its government in his blog BS Ho Hai and Facebook account with the same penname.
Mr. Hai, 52, is charged with Article 88 of the country’s Penal Code and if he is found guilty, he may face imprisonment of up to 20 years in prison.
Mr. Hai had posted numerous articles concerning systematic corruption in Vietnam, the Chinese violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea (South Chin Sea) and environmental issues, especially the catastrophe caused by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant in the central coastal region in April-May in which hundreds of tons of fish were killed.
Hai is the second Vietnamese blogger arrested within one month. On October 10, police in the central province of Khanh Hoa detained prominent blogger and human rights defenders Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh and charged her with anti-state propaganda under Article 88.
These arrests are part of the ongoing crackdown of the Vietnamese communist government against local political dissidents, social activists and human rights defenders.
So far this year, Vietnam has imprisoned nearly two dozens of activists. A number of activists, including prominent human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai and pro-democracy campaigner Tran Anh Kim have been under police detention for months.
Many international human rights organizations and foreign democratic governments have urged Vietnam to remove controversial articles 79, 87, 88 and 258 of the Penal Code which have been used to silence local dissent. Vietnam has been a signatory of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights since 1982 so it must respect universal human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and assembly, they said.
Vietnam is imprisoning around 130 political prisoners, according to Human Rights Watch. The country was ranked 175th out of 180 on Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom index.