Two independent bloggers were detained in Vietnam late last month, one of whom was a contributor to VOA sister station Radio Free Asia.
On February 29, police arrested Nguyen Vu Binh and Nguyen Chi Tuyen, who are regular contributors to RFA’s Vietnamese service, at their homes in the capital Hanoi, according to the press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists.
According to media reports, Ping was arrested on unknown charges after being summoned to meet with police the day before.
This is not the first time Vietnamese authorities have targeted Binh province. In 2002, he was arrested and sentenced to seven years in prison after providing written testimony to the U.S. Congress on human rights issues in Vietnam, Radio Free Asia reported. He was later released in 2007.
He was one of 12 bloggers and activists beaten by police in Hanoi in 2015, Radio Free Asia reported.
In a statement on Thursday, Radio Free Asia and free speech organization PEN International called for Ping’s immediate release. Binh is an honorary member of several PEN centers.
“His case deserves prompt attention, and we call on the international community to join us in condemning his arrest,” RFA President and CEO Bay Fang and PEN International President Burhan Sonmez said in a statement.
Their statement also said Binh’s arrest “is yet another example of Vietnam’s unfair targeting and blatant intimidation of independent journalists.”
Meanwhile, a second blogger, Tuyen, faces charges of “anti-state propaganda” and will be detained for four months pending investigation. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
“Vietnam must release bloggers Nguyen Chi Tuyen and Nguyen Vu Binh and end its persecution of independent journalists,” CPJ’s Southeast Asia senior representative Shawn Crispin said in a statement. Relentless harassment.” “It is time for Vietnam to stop equating journalism with criminality.”
At the end of 2023, the Committee to Protect Journalists ranked Vietnam as the fifth worst country in the world for jailing journalists, with at least 19 journalists imprisoned.
Vietnam’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to an email from VOA seeking comment.
