(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has welcomed the 14 June 2004 release of cyber-dissident Le Chi Quang, two years before he was due to complete his prison sentence. The organisation called on the authorities to show similar clemency toward the six other cyber-dissidents currently detained in Vietnam. Arrested in February 2003 for posting essays online that criticised […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has welcomed the 14 June 2004 release of cyber-dissident Le Chi Quang, two years before he was due to complete his prison sentence. The organisation called on the authorities to show similar clemency toward the six other cyber-dissidents currently detained in Vietnam.
Arrested in February 2003 for posting essays online that criticised the government, Quang is suffering from serious kidney problems. This appears to have been the reason for his early release.
“Quang’s release is an encouraging first step, but we still expect Vietnam to stop censoring the Internet and imprisoning Internet users for simply expressing their views online,” RSF said. “It should not be forgotten that the Internet in Vietnam is one of the most monitored and filtered in the world,” the organisation added.
A government source said Quang was freed for “humanitarian” reasons. His health seriously deteriorated in prison, where he did not receive the treatment he needed for his kidney ailment. On 23 September 2003, RSF urged the authorities to release him on medical grounds.
The six cyber-dissidents currently detained in Vietnam are:
– Nguyen Vu Binh, a former journalist with the Communist Party newspaper “Tap Chi Cong San”, arrested on 25 September 2002. RSF is particularly concerned about Binh as there has been no word of him for about three weeks.
– Pham Hong Son, a representative of a foreign pharmaceutical company, arrested on 27 March 2002.
– Nguyen Dan Que, an intellectual arrested on 7 March 2003.
– Pham Que Duong, a former colonel in the Liberation Army, arrested on 28 December 2002.
– Tran Khue, a literature teacher and co-founder of an anti-corruption group, arrested on 29 December 2002.
– Nguyen Khac Toan, a businessman and former army officer, arrested on 8 January 2002.
On 22 June, RSF will release a new report on the obstacles to the free flow of information online in Vietnam and some 60 other countries. It will be available on the RSF website (www.internet.rsf.org).
BACKGROUND:
Quang was sentenced to four years in prison on 8 November 2002 for sending “dangerous” information abroad. He had written and posted an article online, entitled, “Beware of the empire to the north”, that detailed the circumstances in which the Vietnamese government signed border agreements with China.
Quang was arrested in a cybercafé by a policeman posing as an ordinary Internet user. The Vietnamese authorities have stepped up their monitoring of Internet cafés since March 2004, asking owners to keep a record of the names of all their customers and the websites they visit.
