New York, August 30, 2006—Writer Pham Hong Son was freed from prison today several months ahead of his scheduled release, but he faces three years of restricted movements and government surveillance, his wife told reporters. Son, a medical doctor who spent more than four years in prison after posting pro-democracy writings online, was included in…
New York, August 28, 2006—A Vietnamese government spokesman said today that Internet writer Pham Hong Son, who has been jailed for more than four years, would be included in an amnesty of more than 5,000 prisoners. The announcement at a Hanoi press conference comes as Vietnam seeks accession to the World Trade Organization and follows…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is troubled by Vietnam’s treatment of journalists, including the recent harassment of independent writers, new fines for unauthorized reporting, and heightened Internet restrictions. These measures threaten the development of a transparent government and active press, and invite international scrutiny as Vietnam bids for accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) this fall.
New York, April 20, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the harassment of Vietnamese journalists Duong Phu Cuong and Nguyen Huy Cuong, who were detained and interrogated on the morning of April 17 at Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat Airport. They were released later the same day, and it’s unclear if Vietnamese authorities…
New York, March 3, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Vietnamese authorities’ recent harassment of two well-known Internet writers, Nguyen Khac Toan and Do Nam Hai. Plainclothes officers on Wednesday detained the two writers at a public Internet café and took pictures of the sites they were viewing, which included the banned Web site…
AFGHANISTAN: 1 Ali Mohaqqiq Nasab, Haqooq-i-Zan (Women’s Rights) Imprisoned: October 1, 2005 The attorney general ordered editor Nasab’s arrest on blasphemy charges after the religious adviser to President Hamid Karzai, Mohaiuddin Baluch, filed a complaint about his magazine. “I took the two magazines and spoke to the Supreme Court chief, who wrote to the attorney…
VIETNAM Press conditions in Vietnam largely stagnated in 2005, despite efforts by the country’s leaders to project an image of greater openness. Three writers remained imprisoned on antistate charges for material distributed online; print and broadcast media continued to work under the supervision of the government; and attacks on journalists were common.
New York, January 26, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of freelance Internet journalist Nguyen Khac Toan but deplores the continued imprisonment of two other online reporters in Vietnam. Authorities in Hanoi freed Toan on Tuesday, according to Doan Viet Hoat, a prominent U.S.-based dissident, and international news reports. Toan had been sentenced…