Published on Monday 13 May 2013.
Reporters Without Borders condemns the Vietnamese public security ministry’s decision to prevent the well-known blogger Huynh Ngoc Chenh from travelling abroad.
Winner of the 2013 Netizen Prize, which Reporters Without Borders awards annually with support from Google, Chenh and his daughter were stopped at Ho Chi Minh City airport as they were about to board a flight to the United States on 10 May.
Reporters Without Borders regards the travel ban as a reprisal for Chenh’s blogging and staunch defence of freedom of expression. His influence as a blogger is growing both within Vietnam as well as internationally and the Netizen Prize is thought to have played a role in the decision to impose the ban.
Chenh’s blog is very popular in Vietnam although it is blocked by the authorities and can be accessed only by using censorship circumvention software. Reporters Without Borders has described it as “an example to follow” in a country where freedom of information is openly flouted.
When awarded the Netizen Prize on World Day Against Cyber-Censorship, Chenh said in a phone call from Vietnam: “This award represents a great deal for me. It is a new source of inspiration. It is also and above all a reward and sign of hope for bloggers and independent journalists in Vietnam, and all those who are being denied their right to freedom of expression.”
Read more: http://en.rsf.org/vietnam-netizen-prize-winner-prevented-13-05-2013,44604.html
