Vietnam is mounting an assertive campaign to win a seat on the United National Human Rights Council in an Oct. 11 vote, but critics say Hanoi's poor record at home and diplomatic support for major rights violators abroad disqualify the one-party state.Fourteen seats on the 47-member Council will be filled by the U.N. General Assembly
State Media
Courts in Vietnam on Tuesday handed down prison terms to two Facebook users charged with posting articles opposing the country’s one-party communist state and calling for violence against judicial officials and police officers, according to state media reports.
In north-central Vietnam’s Nghe An province, Nguyen Van Lam, 51, was sentenced to nine years in prison for posting anti-state writings and sharing videos and other content, including broadcasts by RFA, considered politically subversive.
He was charged under Article 117 of Vietnam’s 2015 Criminal Code for “creating, storing, disseminating information and materials against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,” a provision of Vietnamese law frequently used by authorities to stifle government critics and other peaceful voices of dissent.
AP
The European Parliament is demanding the immediate release in Vietnam of three journalists jailed this month on anti-state charges, calling respect for freedom of expression an essential element of a free trade agreement signed between the EU and Vietnam in 2019.
“Parliament calls on the Vietnamese government to immediately and unconditionally release human rights defenders Pham Chi Dung, Nguyen Tuong Thuy and Le Huu Minh Tuan, as well as all others detained and sentenced in the country for merely exercising their right to freedom of expression,” the European Parliament said in a Jan. 21 statement.
“Respect for human rights constitutes a key foundation of the bilateral relations between Vietnam and the EU and is an essential element of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement,” the Parliament said in a resolution approved by lawmakers with 592 votes in favor, 32 against, and 58 abstentions.