A Vietnamese court has jailed five citizen journalists for "abusing democratic rights", drawing sharp US criticism of the communist government's crackdown on freedom of speech.
HANOI (Reuters) - A Vietnamese court sentenced five journalists to prison terms and banned them from working for three years, state media reported on Thursday, after they were convicted of spreading anti-state content on a Facebook-based news outlet. They were found guilty of abusing democratic rights and freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the state at a two-day trial in the southern city of Can Tho, state-run Vietnam News Agency (VNA) said. The journalists set up a news outlet called Bao Sach (Clean Newspaper) on Facebook, which, according to the indictment cited by VNA, carried content that distorted information and defamed the government. The acts committed by the defendants also caused confusion, suspicion among the people, it said. They were the latest Facebook users jailed over anti-state posts in Vietnam, where the government tightly controls media and information and has little tolerance of criticism. Truong Chau Huu Danh, a former reporter and the leader of the group,
"The acts committed by the defendants also caused confusion, suspicion among the people," it said. They were the latest Facebook users jailed over "anti-state" posts in Vietnam, where the government tightly controls media and information and has little tolerance of criticism.
A Vietnamese court sentenced five journalists to prison terms and banned them from working for three years, state media reported on Thursday, after they were convicted of spreading anti-state content on a Facebook-based news outlet.