Police released blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh after she promised to quit writing her blog, which had been critical of the government.
(SEAPA/IFEX) – Vietnamese police released blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh after she promised to stop writing her blog, which had been critical of the government, media reports said.
BBC Online said Quynh was arrested on 28 August 2009 in her house in Nha Trang city. The blogger had been critical of Vietnam-China relations, particularly the controversial bauxite mining project being undertaken by Chinese investors in Vietnam’s Central Highlands region, and the territorial dispute over the Paracel and Spratly islands. She also posted on her blog pictures of herself wearing a green shirt bearing a message calling for the cancellation of the bauxite deal and declaring her country’s sovereignty over the two island groups.
Quynh was accused of “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe on the interests of the state.”
Earlier, blogger Bui Thanh Hieu, also known as Nguoi Buon Gio, was arrested on 27 August for his critical blog posts on Vietnam’s territorial disputes with China. He was released on 5 September.
Pham Doan Trang, a reporter for the VietnamNews online news site, was arrested on 28 August for her coverage of the Vietnam-China territorial conflicts. She was also released on 5 September.
BBC Online said this wave of arrests is a sign of the Vietnamese government’s attempts to stifle discussion of politically sensitive topics in the country’s blogs estimated to have breached the two million mark.
