RSF calls on Vietnam to release dissidents
HANOI - An international press freedom organisation has called on Vietnam's new president Nguyen Minh Triet to pardon and release two prominent dissidents currently serving jail terms.
Pham Hong Son and Nguyen Vu Binh are "two prisoners of conscience whose only crime was to express their opinions on the Internet," the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans Frontieres, RSF) said in an open letter.
"We ask you to re-examine the cases of these two prisoners, whose detention has gone on for too long," the organisation said.
"We also invite you to comply with the undertakings your country gave in its 'white paper on human rights' in 2005, especially as regards free expression and the unrestricted use of the Internet," RSF said.
Son, was arrested in March 2002 and sentenced on appeal in 2003 to five years in prison. RSF said he suffers from various medical problems including symptoms of tuberculosis and a hernia that could prove fatal.
Binh was arrested in September 2002 and jailed for seven years the following year for having relations with "subversive dissidents" and for criticizing a controversial China-Vietnam border agreement.
Triet, 63, was chosen as the nation's new president by the communist party in April and confirmed in the position this week by the National Assembly, along with a new prime minister and cabinet.
"Concrete progress in this area would undoubtedly be hailed by the entire international community at a time when Vietnam is preparing to join the World Trade Organisation," RSF told the new president.
Agence France Presse - June 30, 2006.
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