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Vietnam Detains Blogger for ‘Bad’ Content

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HANOI—Vietnamese police have detained a blogger for posting "bad

content" about the state, the latest move in a crackdown on dissent

that has been condemned by rights groups and Western governments.

Hong Le Tho, 65, was detained for "posting online articles with bad

content and false information that discredit and create distrust among

people about state agencies, social agencies and citizens," the

Ministry of Public Security said on Saturday on its website.

The case follows a sharp increase in arrests and prison terms for

government critics in the past few years that has alarmed the United

States, a former enemy that is struggling to build a case for deeper

trade ties with a country steadfast in its intolerance of dissent.

The detention of Tho, better known as blogger "Nguoi Lot Gach", came a

month after Vietnam released jailed blogger Nguyen Van Hai, who staged

a hunger strike to protest treatment of political prisoners.

It was unclear what Tho posted, as his blog requires an invitation in

order to access it.

The popularity of political blogs has grown with increasing internet

usage and simmering discontent over the Communist government's

handling of a stale economy and rampant graft.

The number of web users has soared to a third of Vietnam's estimated

90 million people, and the Internet is one of only a few channels for

dissent in a country where protests are rare and the media is tightly

controlled by the state.

The United States has urged improvements in Vietnam's human rights record.

In an address to Congress in June, the U.S. State Department's envoy

for democracy, Daniel Baer, described Vietnam's crackdown on bloggers

as part of "a years-long trend of deterioration".

Credit: Reuters

Kofi Oppong Kyekyeku

I am a Ghanaian Broadcast Journalist/Writer who has an interest in General News, Sports, Entertainment, Health, Lifestyle and many more.

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