Viet Nam:
Internet repression creates climate of fear
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
22
October 2006
A new report
released today by Amnesty International reveals a climate of fear in Viet Nam,
with people afraid to post information online and Internet caf¨¦ owners forced
to inform on their customers. Individuals are harassed, detained and imprisoned
for expressing their peaceful political views online, with fear of prosecution
fuelling widespread self-censorship.
But the report also reveals a growing network of activists and campaigners who
are defying government controls and using the Internet to discuss human rights,
as well as a fledgling democracy movement that is growing online.
The report comes one week before a UN meeting to discuss the future of the
Internet ¨C the Internet Governance Forum in Athens ¨C where governments,
companies and NGOs will discuss freedom of ___expression online and other
issues. An Amnesty International delegation will deliver a petition signed by
over 42,000 supporters of its irrepressible.info campaign, calling for an
end to Internet repression.
¡°People in Viet Nam can be thrown in jail for the click of a mouse. The
authorities have created a climate of fear, with online informers keeping track
of web users. Those who stand up for free speech are publicly harassed and
persecuted," said Amnesty International.
¡°But a growing number of brave activists are defying Internet repression and
using the Internet to fight for human rights. And the global nature of the
Internet means that people all over the world can help call for greater online
freedoms in Viet Nam ¨C and support our campaign to free Vietnamese
cyber-dissidents.
¡°The Vietnamese authorities must stop trying to stifle free speech online, and
release the web users that have been unfairly imprisoned.¡±
Amnesty International is asking people to go to
http://irrepressible.info, where they can
support its campaign against Internet repression and email the Vietnamese
authorities, demanding the release of people imprisoned for expressing their
peaceful political beliefs online.
The report details the Vietnamese authorities¡¯ tightening of control over the
Internet in recent years. Internet Service Providers are required to inform on
web users; Internet caf¨¦ owners are required to monitor and inform on
customers; and web users themselves are required to inform on sites that oppose
the state. Laws ban web users from spreading information that causes ¡°harm to
national security or social order¡±.
Filtering and blocking of websites is also on the increase, according to the
report. And while the Vietnamese authorities claim that filtering is for the
protection of web users from pornography, a recent OpenNet Initiative report
found little filtering of such material. Instead, blocked sites are those
referring to known dissidents or mentioning democracy and human rights.
Amnesty International¡¯s report highlights the case of Nguyen Vu Binh, a
37-year-old journalist who was arrested in September 2002 for passing
information through the Internet to overseas Vietnamese groups. At his trial in
December 2003 he was charged with "spying" under Article 80 of the Criminal Code
and sentenced to seven years¡¯ imprisonment, plus three years¡¯ house arrest on
release. He is currently detained at Ba Sao prison camp in Nam Ha province in
northern Viet Nam.
It also features Truong Quoc Huy, aged 25. He was first arrested in October 2005
with two other young people after chatting on a democracy and human rights
website, held incommunicado for nine months then released. On 18 August 2006 he
was rearrested in an Internet cafe in Ho Chi Minh City where he had logged on to
a chatroom. His whereabouts remain unknown and no charges have been made public.
Amnesty International believes that both men are prisoners of conscience and
calls for their inclusion in the release of prisoners which the authorities have
announced will take place in late October.
In the case of Cong Thanh Do, a US citizen arrested in August and released 21
September 2006, the Vietnamese authorities claimed that he planned a terrorist
plot to destroy the US consulate. However, the US ambassador reportedly said
that the US had seen no evidence to support the claim and that they hoped for
his release. Cong Thanh Do was a member of the People¡¯s Democratic Party, which
advocates for political change human rights, and had posted numerous articles
online about human rights in Viet Nam. Amnesty International believes that his
arrest was aimed solely at punishing Cong Thanh Do for expressing his political
views.
The report is part of Amnesty International¡¯s work on Internet repression
linked to its irrepressible.info campaign, which launched in May 2006.
The campaign highlights the rise of Internet censorship and the cases of
individual prisoners of conscience, imprisoned for the peaceful ___expression of
their beliefs online. It enables web users to take action to combat Internet
repression: emailing governments, supporting Amnesty¡¯s online petition, and
spreading the campaign by publishing fragments of censored material from
Amnesty¡¯s online database.
For the full report, Viet Nam: A tightening net - web-based repression and
censorship, please see:
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engasa410082006
or
http://www.vnhrnet.org/english/documents/AI_Vncensorship.pdf
Public Document
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