Vietnam releases dissidents after nine days in jail

Asia-Pacific News
Apr 14, 2011

Hanoi - Vietnamese authorities have released two high-profile dissidents after nine days detention, one of the two men said Thursday.

Lawyer Le Quoc Quan and Dr Pham Hong Son were arrested April 4 for causing 'public disorder' at the trial of Cu Huy Ha Vu, a prominent legal activist who received a seven-year prison sentence for spreading 'propaganda against the state.'

Son said he and Quan were released Wednesday night. 'I was not beaten during the arrest,' he said. 'They treated me reasonably but in some cases, the police behaved in a disrespectful way. I told them to stop being disrespectful and they stopped.'

Both men deny causing a public disturbance.

'They allowed us to see a video of the arrest and I said if the film was shown to the public, it would be the police who should be charged with causing public disorder,' Son said.

The arrests of Son and Quan, two of Vietnam's most famous pro-democracy activists, drew attention from the international community. The US government and EU countries protested the arrests and called on Vietnam to release them immediately.

Quan was jailed for three months in 2007 after he returned from a six-month fellowship at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington.

He was accused of taking part in 'activities to overthrow the people's government,' but was never formally charged. He was eventually released following protests from the United States.

Son became Vietnam's first 'cyber-dissident' when he was arrested in 2002 after corresponding with Vietnamese exiles and translated and posted a US State Department essay titled What Is Democracy.

Son spent more than four years in jail and a further three under house arrest.

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