The authorities in Vietnam have arrested one of many nation’s most outstanding journalists and accused him of “abusing democratic freedoms” by posting articles on Fb that “infringed on the pursuits of the state and the reputable rights and pursuits of organizations and people.”
The journalist, Truong Huy San — identified to many by his pen identify, Huy Duc — was taken into custody final week, in line with a outstanding Vietnamese blogger. However there was no official affirmation till Friday evening, when state information media reported that the Ministry of Public Safety was investigating Mr. San for his Fb posts. There have been no particulars on the content material of the posts.
The arrest is an ominous signal for different writers in Vietnam. Journalists have lengthy been a goal for the nation’s ruling Communist Occasion, which regularly crushes dissent. However Mr. San had for years managed to navigate the very small area for unbiased thought, usually publishing articles that criticized the federal government. His connections with high-level officers had been thought to have been a buffer — till now.
Mr. San’s case is a part of a sweeping repression of civil society that many rights teams say has expanded in scale and scope lately. The regulation that he has been accused of violating is an “overly broad” one which the authorities regularly use in opposition to critics of the federal government, in line with Human Rights Watch.
“Huy Duc is essentially the most influential journalist in Vietnam,” mentioned Ben Swanton, a director at the 88 Challenge, a U.S.-based nonprofit that focuses on human rights points in Vietnam. “His arrest represents an alarming assault on freedom of the press and is the most recent in an ongoing crackdown on reformers.”
Reporters With out Borders, the Committee to Defend Journalists, and PEN America have all referred to as on the federal government to launch Mr. San.
Vietnamese state media reported on Mr. San’s case along with the arrest of a lawyer, Tran Dinh Trien, who was charged with the identical offense as Mr. San. Mr. Trien, a former deputy director of the Hanoi Bar Affiliation, has represented many consumers in high-profile authorized instances. He was additionally arrested due to articles he had posted on Fb.
After Mr. San, 62, disappeared on June 1, his Fb account, with greater than 350,000 followers, was deactivated, its posts taken down.
Screenshots saved by the 88 Challenge present that on Might 26, Mr. San took goal on the police on Fb with a headline: “A COUNTRY CANNOT DEVELOP BASED ON FEAR.” He criticized the focus of energy below the Ministry of Public Safety, which was most just lately led by To Lam, the newly appointed president.
On Might 28, Mr. San posted an article criticizing the crackdown on corruption initiated by Vietnam’s highly effective Communist Occasion chief, Nguyen Phu Trong. Mr. San wrote that combating graft wanted to be achieved by establishments and never by “eliminating” a number of corrupt high-ranking officers.
In 2016, Mr. Trong mentioned that his “blazing furnace” marketing campaign in opposition to graft would eradicate “dangerous roots” and purify the social gathering, however it has additionally roiled Vietnam with an uncommon variety of high-level resignations.
If Mr. Trong “doesn’t present a political street map to make the nation extra democratic, his cleanliness is meaningless,” Mr. San wrote in his Might 28 submit.
Mr. San acquired a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship to check on the College of Maryland in 2005-2006. When he returned to Vietnam in 2006, he based a well-liked weblog that revealed social and political commentaries. The Vietnamese authorities shut down the weblog in 2010.
In 2012, Mr. San spent a 12 months at Harvard College on a Nieman fellowship, throughout which he wrote a journalistic account of Vietnam’s postwar period titled “The Successful Aspect.” The e-book, which is banned in Vietnam, is broadly thought-about to be the definitive account of postwar Vietnamese historical past and politics.
In keeping with the 2024 World Press Freedom Index issued by Reporters With out Borders, Vietnam ranks 174th out of the 180 nations and territories.
The nation is “the fifth worst jailer of journalists worldwide,” with no less than 19 reporters locked up as of December, in line with the Committee to Defend Journalists.
