Vietnam’s police force imposes tight media censorship and have a zero tolerance approach to criticisms directed at their government, cracking down on those who criticize the country’s Communist rulers. As a result, bloggers have been arrested in a recent wave of enforcement. Prison term for violators can be up to 20 years.
According to a statement by Ho Chi Minh City police, blogger Ho Van Hai was arrested and accused of “spreading information and documents on the internet that are against the government of the Social Republic of Vietnam.” He was arrested over Facebook posts; the content of the posts were not made public.
In October, Vietnam police also detained blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh for violation of criticism against the state and distributing “anti-state propaganda.” She had criticized the government’s handling of a catastrophic chemical spill at a Vietnamese steel plant.
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Viviane Nguyen She is a lover of politics. She has researched and worked in different levels of government in San Jose, Sacramento, Washington D.C., and Thailand. She is motivated to highlight issues impacting the Vietnamese-American community and Asian American communities at large. She was formerly a Cal-in-Sacramento Fellow at UC Berkeley and notably a Public Policy and International Affairs Fellow at the Goldman School of Public Policy. She wants to write to show why politics, especially in 2016, is important.