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:
On this day, World Press Freedom Day, there are — to the best of our knowledge — 193 journalists imprisoned in the jails of 29 countries, most of them solely for having done their jobs. Vietnam is among the 29, and we are informed that your country is currently holding 10 of our colleagues in prison.
The journalists we know to be jailed in Vietnam include : Nguyen Dan Que, Nguyen Dinh Huy, Nguyen Xuan Tu, Bui Minh Quoc, Nguyen Vu Binh, Tran Khue, Pham Que Duong, Nguyen Khac Toan, Le Chi Quang, and Pham Hong Son.
It is particularly striking to us that three of these 10 — Pham Hong Son, Nguyen Khac Toan and Le Chi Quang — were arrested for working in the fastest-growing category of communications: the Internet. Certainly this reflects the great interest and demand of the Vietnamese people for information beyond what is available from state-owned media.
As a member of the United Nations, you must certainly be familiar with the UN@quot;s Declaration of Human Rights, article 19 of which states: ?Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.? U.N. members recognize that the right of free expression is sometimes inconvenient and troublesome. Yet, it is crucial to uphold, for practical reasons as well as principled ones. A nation that stifles freedom
of thought and expression forfeits the good opinion of the world and isolates itself. This may prompt political or economic sanctions, with loss of diplomatic influence and domestic prosperity.
The Overseas Press Club of America, an independent organization that has defended press freedom around the world for more than 65 years, urges you to re-think your policy, to strengthen your country by welcoming freedom of ideas and opinions, and to release the 10 journalists held in prison.
We will appreciate learning of your positive actions in the cases of our 10 colleagues, Your Excellency. We can think of no better way of demonstrating Vietnam@quot;s commitment to the centrality of free expression in a modern democracy.
Respectfully yours,
Kevin McDermott
Norman A. Schorr
Co-chairmen, Freedom of the Press Committee