(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to the Vietnamese minister for public security, Lieutenant General Le Minh Huong, RSF called for the release of Vietnamese dissident Son Hong Pham. Police arrested him for writing, translating and publishing texts on the Internet that promote democracy. “This new arrest of a web dissident, the third in just over […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to the Vietnamese minister for public security, Lieutenant General Le Minh Huong, RSF called for the release of Vietnamese dissident Son Hong Pham. Police arrested him for writing, translating and publishing texts on the Internet that promote democracy. “This new arrest of a web dissident, the third in just over a month, is callous confirmation of the Vietnamese authorities’ intention to censor freedom of expression on the Internet,” noted Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general. RSF renewed its call for dissident Le Chi Quang’s release from detention and dissident Tran Khue’s release from house arrest.
According to information obtained by RSF, Son Hong Pham, a doctor and sales representative for a pharmaceutical company, was arrested in Hanoi on 29 March 2002. His arrest apparently followed the translation and publication on the Internet of an article titled “What is democracy?”. The article had previously appeared on the website of the United States embassy in Vietnam.
On 25 March, Colonel Le Van, a member of special police unit P4-A25, called Son Hong Pham at his residence and ordered him to report to the special unit. The dissident was questioned about his translations of articles from the American embassy’s website. Shortly afterwards, Son Hong Pham’s home in Hanoi was searched by eight members of the special unit, who confiscated computer equipment and personal papers. On 26 March, Son Hong Pham returned to the police station to claim his personal belongings, but was unsuccessful. The following day, he published an open letter on the Internet protesting the illegal search of his home and the confiscation of his personal belongings. Two days later, his family announced that he had “disappeared.” A family member confirmed by telephone on 15 April that Son Hong Pham was still detained. His mother was allowed to visit him in prison.
Son Hong Pham is the author of several articles, including “Democracy promotion: a key focus in a new world order” and “Sovereignty and human rights: the search for reconciliation”, which were published on the Internet forums Danchu.net and Ykien.net. Both websites focus on the promotion of democracy. On 6 March, Son Hong Pham sent one of his articles, titled “Promising signals for democracy in Vietnam”, to the secretary-general of the Vietnamese Community Party, General Nong Duc Manh.
RSF recalls that web dissidents Le Chi Quang and Tran Khue are still in detention. Both men published articles on the Internet in which they criticised the Vietnamese authorities. Le Chi Quang, a computer science lecturer who also holds a degree in law, was arrested at a Hanoi Internet cafe on 21 February. He is being held at camp B14 in Ha Dong province (northern Vietnam) (see IFEX alert of 14 March 2002). Tran Khue has been under house arrest since 10 March, by virtue of administrative directive 31/CP (see IFEX alert of 14 March 2002). This follows the publication on the Internet of a letter he wrote to Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, on the eve of his official visit to Vietnam.
