By Online Staff
June 19 2003


Amnesty International Australia branch has criticised the authorities in Vietnam for sentencing internet dissident Dr Pham Hong Son to 13 years imprisonment in Hanoi yesterday.

The organisation said that Dr Son's "crime" was the publishing of material deemed anti-government on the internet, including a translated American essay on democracy.

Amnesty said Dr Son, a 35-year-old businessman and qualified medical doctor, and father of two young children, had been detained since March last year under conditions which contravene both Vietnamese and international law.

He was arrested after translating the essay on democracy from the US embassy's website in Vietnam, entitled "What is Democracy" and sending it to friends and senior party officials.

Amnesty Australia president Russell Thirgood said: "To accuse Dr Pham Hong Son of espionage is a travesty of justice."


He said the closed trial lasted only a day and diplomats who had formally sought to attend were refused entry. Dr Son was charged with espionage and sentenced under Article 80 of the Vietnam Criminal Code.

"Dr Son is now serving a long prison sentence solely for the peaceful exercise of his fundamental rights to freedom of expression," Thirgood said.

Amnesty said the indictment which detailed Dr Son's alleged "crimes," named other dissidents in Vietnam and Vietnamese in exile, with whom he had email contact and shared information.

"This is a worrying indication of just how closely the Vietnamese authorities monitored his private email and access to the internet," Thirgood said.

"Dr Son has not advocated violence or the overthrow of the Vietnamese government, neither has he passed on state secrets. He is an advocate of democracy, peaceful political change and human rights."

Thirgood said that Dr Son was a prisoner of conscience who should be immediately and unconditionally released. "This is yet another outrageous example of Vietnam using loosely-worded national security legislation to criminalise activities which are regarded as perfectly legal under international law and in most countries of the world," he said.

Amnesty said at least five other prominent dissidents were in jail and awaiting trial, including the respected military historian Pham Que Duong and Professor Tran Khue who were arrested in December last year. Both face charges of espionage under Article 80 of the Vietnam Criminal Code.

Dr Nguyen Dan Que, a prisoner of conscience for 18 years before his release from detention in 1998, was re-arrested in March and is detained without charge.

Last month Amnesty International Australia started a campaign to free imprisoned dissident, Le Chi Quang. Over 4000 Australians signed a petition calling for his release.

Thirgood said action to seek Dr Son's release would be launched early next week.


This story was found at: www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/06/19/1055828424486.html

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