Never been against the communist state (October 8 2012) Never been against the communist state (October 8 2012)

Nguyen Van Hai known as Dieu Cay the Vietnamese blogger charged with producing anti-state propaganda against the one-party Vietnamese state under a “vague” section of the criminal code, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison. Nguyen has already been in detention since September 2008, when he was jailed for tax fraud. According to the Raw Story blog, “mobile phone signals had apparently been blocked inside the court compound as [Nguyen was] tried under Article 88 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail. …posting political articles on the banned Vietnamese website “Free Journalists Club” as well as writing on [blogs] denouncing corruption and injustice and criticising Hanoi’s foreign policy. Communist Vietnam bans private media — all newspapers and television channels are state-run. …Rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have repeatedly called upon the government to drop the charges and release … immediately. Reporters Without Borders ranked Vietnam 172 out of 179 countries in its 2011-2012 press freedom index and identified the authoritarian state as an “Enemy of the Internet” because of systematic use of cyber-censorship.” Court President Nguyen Phi Long said, “crimes were especially serious with clear intention against the state … must be seriously punished. …abused the popularity of the Internet to post articles which undermined and blackened (Vietnam’s) leaders, criticising the (Communist) party (and) destroying people’s trust in the state” Nguyen in a speech that was cut off when the audio feed was terminated said that he had never been against the communist state.

 

Inspired by The Raw Story ow.ly/ebdmg image source Namviet Times ow.ly/ebd5i