Associated Press
HANOI, Vietnam—Vietnamese police have arrested one of the country’s best-known bloggers for posting criticism of the communist government, intensifying a crackdown against Internet-fuelled dissent in the one-party, authoritarian state.
The arrest of Pham Viet Dao, 61, indicates the level of concern in the Communist Party over the threat posed by Internet activism. Up until a few years the party had a monopoly on information in the country. Now, scores of blogs and FacebookFB -1.61% accounts report gleefully on its failings and internal feuding, reaching millions of people and helping spread anger at its long rule.
So far this year, 38 bloggers or democracy activists have been arrested, close to the same as in the whole of 2012. Foreign governments, led by the United States, have criticized the crackdown and called for the activists’ release but have little leverage to force Hanoi to change tack.
Mr. Dao was arrested from his home in Hanoi on Thursday for the offense of “abusing democratic freedoms,” the Ministry of Public Security said on its website. That violation of Article 258 of the Penal Code carries up to seven years in prison.
Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323734304578544493110374054.html
