The journalist advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reports that it has requested help from US, French and Finnish ambassadors in Hanoi on behalf of three "cyberdissidents" held by Vietnamese authorities for nearly a month. Known online as Nam Tran, Nguyen Hoang Long and Huynh Viet Lang, they are accused of having plotted terrorist attacks against Vietnam. Nam Trang's legal name is Cong Thanh Do, and he is a citizen of the USA (his image is below). Here's a snip from the letter RSF sent to ambassadors:
Five people are currently imprisoned in Vietnam for having expressed democratic views on the Internet. Contrary to the claims of the Vietnamese authorities, none of them is a terrorist, criminal or spy. These men have been punished for using the Internet to publicly express their disagreement with the political line of the sole party. They are non-violent democrats.
Vietnam will shortly become a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and it has also been chosen to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in November. We consider that a normalisation of diplomatic relations with this country and its integration into the world economy should be linked to concrete progress in the field of human rights.
More on the Vietnam case here. Image: "In this undated photo provided by a family member, shown is Cong Thanh Do, a member of a pro-democracy group and Vietnamese-born U.S. citizen who has been detained in Ho Chi Minh City, a family member and an attorney said Monday September 4, 2006. Cong Thanh Do, 47, of San Jose, California, was taken into custody Aug. 14 in the central Vietnamese city of Phan Thiet and later transported to Ho Chi Minh City, his daughter, Bien Dobui said by telephone from California. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Do family member)"
RSF has posted a number of updates today on other cases of alleged government repression against journalists and bloggers. Here's an update on "continuing judicial harassment of Iranian journalists," here is an item about a feared press crackdown in the African nation of Burundi, another about an editor held by authorities in Cameroon, the editor of a paper in Sudan has been kidnapped and murdered, and there are reports of "censorship and seizures in runup to general elections" in Brazil.
