The European Council announced June 19 that it has approved the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), both to be formally signed this week in Hanoi. EVFTA and EVIPA are hailed as the most ambitious agreements concluded between the EU and a developing country. Under EVFTA, upwards of 99% of tariffs on goods from both sides will be lifted. (Asia News Network, June 26) The deals were approved just two weeks after a Vietnamese environmental activist was sentenced to six years in prison for “anti-state” Facebook posts. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, a shrimp farming engineer, is accused of writing posts that urged people to take part in peaceful protests in June over corporate pollution. The posts especially noted the Formosa Plastics disaster in 2016, in which a Taiwanese-owned steel plant dumped toxic waste into the ocean off the coast of central Vietnam, killing millions of fish. Vietnam’s government has accused Facebook of violating a draconian new cybersecurity law that came into effect in January by allowing the posts. (The Guardian, June 7)
Photo of Nguyen Ngoc Anh via Human Rights Watch. Sign reads: “Fish Need Clean Water, People Need Transparency.”
Vietnam journalists jailed for ‘anti-state propaganda’
A court in Vietnam on Jan. 5 sentenced three freelance journalists known for their criticism of the government to between 11 and 15 years in prison.
The three, Pham Chi Dung, Nguyen Tuong Thuy and Le Huu Minh Tuan are prominent members of the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam (IJAVN). Dung is IJAVN’s founding president, while Thuy is the vice president and Tuan is an editor. They were convicted of anti-state propaganda under article 117 of the penal code, which punishes “making, storing, spreading information, materials, items for the purpose of opposing the State of Socialist Republic of Vietnam.” This is a charge that is often used to silence government critics—despite the fact that it contradicts article 25 of Vietnam’s constitution, which protects press freedom. Dung was jailed for 15 years and Thuy and Tuan for 11 years each.
International rights groups unequivocally condemned the sentencing. Human Rights Watch said in a statement, “Democracy dies without freedom of expression and the press, and the work of independent journalists like these three who dare expose malfeasance and demand reforms to end abuse of power.”
Despite sweeping economic reforms, Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party retains tight media censorship and tolerates little criticism. A recent decree, signed in October by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, punishes with a fine and suspension for sharing information that authorities deem harmful but not serious enough for a criminal penalty. Authorities have continued to harass, arrest and imprison bloggers and activists based on “national security” charges. Vietnam has a poor record for free media, ranking 175 out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders. (Jurist)
Vietnam journalists convicted for ties to free speech group
The Vietnam People’s Court of Thoi Lai district has sentenced five journalists to prison for violating Article 331 of the country’s penal code. The journalists are affiliated with the popular Bao Sach (Clean Journalism) Facebook group, and their sentences range from four and a half to two years.
The decision was reported Oct. 28 by VietnamPlus, an affiliate of the state-run news outlet Vietnam News Agency (VNA). The journalists were convicted under the charges of “abusing the rights to freedom and democracy to violate the interests of the State.”
VNA reports that the defendants pled guilty to the charges. Stating that:
The US State Department condemned the court’s decision, saying that the conviction is “the latest in a troubling trend of detentions and convictions of Vietnamese journalists and citizens exercising their rights to freedom of speech.”Â
Vietnam ranks 175 out of 180 on the 2021 World Press Freedom Index. As part of their sentencing, the five defendants will not be allowed to practice journalism for three years following their release. (Jurist)
Environmentalists imprisoned in Vietnam
The US State Department on June 19 shared its “deep concern” over the two-year prison sentence of Vietnamese activist Nguyá»…n ThĂşy Hạnh (also rendered Nguy Thi Khanh). Nguyá»…n, founder of the Green Innovation & Development Centre and Vietnam’s first recipient of the Goldman Environmental Prize, was detained and arrested on two occasions in 2021 on charges of propaganda against the state.
Last week the Hanoi People’s Court sentenced Nguyá»…n to two years imprisonment on charges of tax evasion. Nguyá»…n’s sentence came after the imprisonment of three other activists, Dang Dinh Bach, Bach Hung Duong and Mai Phan Loi, who raised dissent over the government’s coal use policies. (Jurist)