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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
