Amnesty International Press Release, 21 September 2012
Three bloggers who face up to 20 years in jail simply for exercising their right to freedom of expression should be released immediately and unconditionally, Amnesty International said today, ahead of their trial at Ho Chi Minh City’s People’s Court on Monday 24 September 2012.
Their trial comes as the Vietnamese authorities continue to crack down on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
“The Vietnamese authorities must abide by their constitutional and international obligations to respect the Vietnamese people’s right to freedom of expression”, said Rupert Abbott, Amnesty International’s Researcher on Viet Nam.
“The bloggers are prisoners of conscience, detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression through their online writings, and must be freed”.
The bloggers are Nguyen Van Hai, known as Dieu Cay (“the peasant’s pipe”); former policewoman Ta Phong Tan, whose blog is called “Justice and Truth”; and Phan Thanh Hai, known as AnhBaSaiGon. They are accused of conducting anti-state propaganda under Article 88 of Viet Nam’s Criminal Code – offences that carry sentences of up to two decades.
