Vietnam : Journalist sentenced to seven years for ‘anti-state’ propaganda
Journalist and democracy campaigner Nguyen Vu Binh was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of propaganda against the state on September 10. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) strongly condemns the jailing and urges the Vietnamese authorities to drop all charges and uphold the fundamental right to freedom of expression.
On September 10, the independent journalist and blogger was sentenced to seven years in prison by the Hanoi People’s Court on charges of distributing anti-state propaganda under Article 117 of the country’s Penal Code.
Binh was arrested in Hanoi on February 29, 2024, alongside activist Nguyen Chi Tuyen, in connection with comments in various YouTube videos discussing political, economic, and social issues in the country. The four videos were posted on YouTube channel TNT Media Live between January and March 2022. TNT Media Live is owned by the US based broadcasting outlet Tieng Nuoc Toi ( “My Country’s Language”).
The court found Binh fabricated information that caused public confusion and that he disseminated propaganda against the state. Binh denied the charges, stating he was exercising his right to freedom of speech guaranteed in the Vietnamese Constitution and the Convention on Civil and Political Rights, which Vietnam ratified in 1982. His lawyers confirmed that Binh would not appeal the sentence due to his distrust in Vietnam’s justice system.
The conviction follows a trail of persecution of Nguyen Vu Binh. Binh spent more than eight years as an economics reporter for Tap Chi Cong San, the Vietnamese Communist Party’s official journal, before stepping down in September 2000 to petition to form a new Freedom and Democracy Party. He was subsequently arrested in 2002 on espionage charges after testifying to the US Congress about human rights abuses in Vietnam. He was sentenced in 2003 to seven years in prison, but was released in 2007 following a presidential amnesty. Following his release, Binh continued to blog for Radio Free Asia on topics such as corruption, land rights, and international relations. He has been recognised internationally by human rights defenders as a victim of political persecution.
Radio Free Asia (RFA), PEN International, the Vietnamese Abroad PEN Centre (VNAPC), and PEN American released a joint statement on September 10 stating they “strongly condemn the guilty verdict. The ruling is yet another example of Vietnam’s unjust crackdown on free speech and brazen intimidation of journalists and writers.” The statement urged the international community to join in condemning this ruling.
IFJ said: “The sentencing of Nguyen Vu Binh is a clear violation of press freedom and a clear example of how the Vietnamese state works to crush any opposing voices outside the one-party system. We call on the Vietnamese government to consider the obligations of their own constitution and the rights of journalists and all citizens to speak freely without the spectre of incarceration. The country’s people rightly deserve to hear independent voices and a free media.”
The International Federation of Journalists – September 16, 2024