9/25/2012
(RTTNews)
- UN human rights chief Navi Pillay on Tuesday expressed her deep
concern and dismay over the conviction and harsh sentencing of three
dissident bloggers in Vietnam a day earlier on charges of spreading
anti-government propaganda.
Pillay noted that the jailing of the
bloggers reflected a trend of increasing restrictions on freedom of
expression in the South Asian country, especially against those who use
the internet to voice criticisms of the state.
"The harsh
prison terms handed down to bloggers exemplify the severe restrictions
on freedom of expression in Vietnam," Pillay said in a news release
issued Tuesday.
On Monday, a Vietnamese court in Ho Chi Minh City
sentenced three prominent dissident bloggers to prolonged prison terms
under article 88 of the penal code for "conducting propaganda against
the Socialist Republic of Vietnam" by posting articles on the website
of the Vietnamese Club of Free Journalists.
In a trial that
lasted just a few hours, Nguyen Van Hai was given 12 years' jail, while
Ta Phong Tan, whose mother burnt herself to death in July after police
harassed her family, received ten years. The other blogger Phan Thanh
Hai was sentenced to four years. Nguyen's case had been raised by US
President Barack Obama during a speech to mark World Press Freedom Day
in last May.
Jailing of the three bloggers comes amid crackdowns on political
blogs ordered by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. People are
increasingly using Internet to expose corruption and nepotism by the
ruling Communist party and to express their resentment at the state of
affairs in the South-East Asian country, where the press is controlled
by the state.
Hundreds of police surrounded the People's Court
of Ho Chi Minh City on Monday morning to prevent supporters of the
convicts from approaching the court. Seven people were arrested before
the trial started and mobile phones were barred from the court premises.
Pillay
said in a statement that the court's quick decision after only a few
hours of deliberation raises questions about the defendants' right to
due process and a fair trial, and expressed concern about reports that
several supporters were detained and prevented from attending the
trial.
In 2009, during the UN Human Rights Council's Universal
Periodic Review (UPR) of Vietnam's human rights record, the State had
accepted a number of recommendations on freedom of expression,
including one to "fully guarantee the right to receive, seek and impart
information and ideas in compliance with article 19 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights."
Pillay said the verdicts are "an unfortunate development that
undermines the commitments Vietnam has made internationally, including
during the UPR, to protect and promote the right to freedom of
expression."
Incidentally, the United States had demanded the
immediate release of three jailed Vietnamese dissident bloggers on
Monday. US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said in a
statement that Washington was "deeply troubled" by the convictions of
three Vietnamese bloggers, who she said appeared "to have done nothing
more than exercise their right to freedom of expression."
by RTT Staff Writer
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