Vietnam detains Vietnamese-born U.S. citizen

 

Mon Sep 4, 2006 7:42 AM ET

HANOI (Reuters) - Authorities have detained a Vietnamese-born U.S. citizen who has used the Internet to call for multi-party democracy in the one-party communist state, the man's daughter said on Monday.

A U.S. embassy spokeswoman in Hanoi confirmed that the man, engineer Cong Thanh Do, 47, was in detention in Ho Chi Minh City and that he had been visited by consular officials.

A Vietnam government spokesman said he had no information on the case.

Word of the man's arrest came almost a week after Vietnam released cyber-dissident Pham Hong Son as part of a presidential amnesty after he had served more than four years in jail for posting essays and translations on democracy over the Internet.

The United States and European countries had campaigned for the release of Son and others considered rights activists. Hanoi has been under pressure to release activists as it prepares to join the World Trade Organization this year and host the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in November.

Do's daughter, Bien DoBui, said by telephone from the family home in San Jose, California, that her father was arrested on August 14 in Phan Thiet in the southern province of Binh Thuan and then taken to Ho Chi Minh City.

"On Friday, he told a visiting American consular official that he was going on a hunger strike," DoBui, 21 said. "We did not contact anyone until he came out with his role in a political group and the reason for his arrest became more clear."

However, she said Do had not been formally charged.

She said Do told the consular official he was a member of the People's Democratic Party of Vietnam and that he was a peaceful supporter of multi-party democracy and freedom of speech.

The embassy spokeswoman said she did not have details. "I can confirm the arrest and that we visited him as part of normal consular services".

 

 

Return to main page