Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009asia: vietnamVIETNAMWhile maintaining its tight grip on traditional news media,the government intensified its already significant controls over the Internet withnew restrictions on content and heightened monitoring of the blogs that haveemerged as an alternative source of news and commentary. Internet penetrationcontinued to surge, with an estimated 22 million users among the country’s approximately89 million people, according to Ministry of Information and Telecommunicationsstatistics.Of those, the government estimated that as many as 2 million users maintainedblogs of various types. The surge in blogging posed a dilemma for the authoritariangovernment: It sought to promote Internet access to modernize theeconomy while maintaining strictrestrictions on freedom of expression,especially criticism of toprankingCommunist Party leadersor discussion of sensitive governmentpolicies.Many traditional journalistsalso maintained blogs to publishnews and commentary censored bytheir state-controlled newspapers.Online reporters and bloggers whoposted articles critical of bilateralrelations with neighboring Chinawere singled out for harassment,t o p developments»»Bloggers face regular harassmentand detention.»»Government conducts extensiveonline censorship.300key statisticNumber of cybercafésoutfitted with softwaretracking visits to banned Web sites.interrogation, and temporary detention. Growing commercial and diplomaticties with China were increasingly sensitive in Vietnam in light of the neighboringcountries’ often antagonistic history.On August 27, police detained political blogger Bui Thanh Hieu, known onlineas Nguoi Buon Gio (or “Wind Trader”), over entries critical of Vietnam’sunresolved territorial disputes with China, including the long-contested Paraceland Spratly islands. Hieu also posted material concerning what he considered thegovernment’s heavy-handed management of land disputes with the Roman CatholicChurch. According to the Free Journalists Network of Vietnam (FJNV), anindependent press freedom advocacy group, police searched Hieu’s house duringhis arrest and confiscated two computers and other personal belongings. He wasdetained for more than a week.Pham Doan Trang, a reporter with the popular online news site VietnamNetand a blogger under the name “Trang the Ridiculous,” was detained on August28 on allegations of violating national security laws. Trang had also reported onsensitive territorial disputes between China and Vietnam, a news story tightlycontrolled in the state-run media. The Associated Press reported that access toseveral of Trang’s articles on China-related topics and other issues was blocked bythe government after her arrest. On her politically oriented blog, she frequentlymocked senior party members’ public speeches. She was released without chargeafter a week in police detention.Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, a blogger who wrote as Me Nam (“MotherMushroom”), was detained for her online postings. As many as 17 police officialsstormed her residence around midnight outside the southern coastal city of NhaTrang. Authorities seized her computer, hard drive, and other belongings duringher arrest, according to FJNV. Quynh had posted blog entries on sensitive topicsconcerning China-Vietnam relations, including a controversial bauxite miningproject led by Chinese investors in the country’s Central Highlands as well asterritorial disputes. Quynh was released after a week in detention after agreeingto stop updating her blog. She faced potential charges of “abusing democraticfreedoms to infringe on the interests of the state,” a crime punishable by prisonterms under the penal code’s Article 258.A blogger who wrote as “Sphinx” was detained by authorities on August 29and released four days later. According to FJNV, he was subjected to sleep deprivationduring interrogations over his short and sometimes witty blog poststhat touched on Vietnam-China relations. He had also posted pictures of himselfwearing a T-shirt saying “Paracel and Spratly islands belong to Vietnam.” While indetention, a group of his associates anonymously updated his widely read blog.In May, CPJ ranked Vietnam among the 10 Worst Countries to Be a Blogger,a characterization the government took issue with in comments in the statecontrolledmedia. CPJ based its assessment on the government’s extension oftraditional media restrictions to the blogosphere, and the continued detentionof blogger Nguyen Van Hai, also known as Dieu Cay, who was sentenced to 30months in prison in 2008 on tax evasion charges that his supporters say weretrumped up.In October, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution calling on the governmentto release imprisoned bloggers and respect Internet freedom. Vietnamese governmentspokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga said the resolution was “unbiased anduntrue” and that “in Vietnam, no one is arrested, detained, or tried for expressingtheir views,” according to news reports.The online crackdown also drew critical attention to the state-run AdministrationAgency for Radio, Television, and Electronics Information, a new bodycreated in October 2008 to monitor the Internet and blogosphere. According toCPJ sources, the Vietnamese police also maintained their own separate Internet146147