Press Freedom
CPJ Updates
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Reporter Without Borders
Vietnam October 5, 2005
H.E. Tran Duc Luong
President
Office of the President
1 Hoang Hoa Tham
Hanoi
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Fax: (011.84.4) 823-1872
Your Excellency:
The Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) joins many other voices in protesting the mistreatment of Pham Hong Son , who is serving his fourth year in jail for posting on-line his translation of an essay entitled, “What is Democracy?”
Mr. Son reportedly has been coughing up blood and has a dangerous hernia in the groin, but has been denied proper treatment. His mistreatment stands in peculiar contrast to the white paper on human rights recently published by your government. It promises to protect freedom of expression, free use of the internet and freedom of the press. Mr. Son’s act in distributing an essay about democracy, which had been posted on-line by the U.S. embassy, would seem to fit easily within the rights your new guarantee. Yet, he remains in jail…sentenced for “anti-state” activities.
We would apply the same argument to the case of Nguyen Phu Binh , also in his fourth year in jail. He refuses still to sign a self-criticism demanded by the authorities. His crime: posting material on the Internet and consorting with “subversive dissidents.” Who are these “subversive dissidents”? Well, one of them is Mr. Son.
We also note with dismay a new directive requiring the owners of cyber-cafes to monitor the activities of their customers by requiring identification and banning them from using “pornographic and subversive” sites.
The OPC, which has been defending the right of journalists around the world for 70 years, would welcome a real application of the white paper on human rights in Vietnam . In the interest of our Vietnamese colleagues, we will watch developments closely.
Respectfully yours,
Jeremy Main
Kevin McDermott
Freedom of the Press Committee
cc:
Pham Van Khai
Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister
1 Bach Thao
Hanoi
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Nguyen Dy Nien
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Hanoi
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Fax: (011.84.4) 823-1872
Nguyen Tam Chien
Ambassador of Vietnam to the U.S.A.
Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
1233 20th Street, NW
( Suite 400 )
Washington , DC 20036
Fas: (202) 861-0917
Ambassador Le Luong Minh
Permanent Representative
Permanent Mission of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
to the United Nations
866 United Nations Plaza , Suite 435
New York , NY 10017
Fax: (212) 644-5732
Michael W. Marine
U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam
Embassy of the United States of America
7 Lang Ha
Ba Dinh District
Hanoi
Vietnam
Fax: (011.84.4) 772-1510
( OR: United States Embassy – Vietnam
PSC 461, Box 400
FPO AP 96521-0002 )