Ahead of Vietnam’s One-Party Elections, the State Punishes Online Calls for Democracy
To secure its monopoly on power, the Communist Party bends the rules, bans the competition, and dominates the digital landscape.
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May 21, 2021
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Unlike its counterpart in China, the ruling Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) has not felt the need to banish popular U.S.-based social media platforms from its domestic internet. In fact, Vietnam is home to the seventh-largest population of Facebook users in the world. Yet the party has been able to maintain control over the digital sphere with alarming efficacy. Online dissent is strictly punished, thousands of pro-government commentators shape prevailing narratives, and users’ activities are intensely monitored.
Hanoï : arrestation de deux personnes pour propagande contre l Etat | Société
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Vietnamese Activist Arrested After Nominating Herself for Election to National Assembly
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Detained Vietnamese land-rights activist Trinh Ba Phuong was returned this week to his former detention camp from a mental hospital in Hanoi, where he was sent for evaluation after refusing to cooperate with police investigators, according to his wife.
Phuong had previously refused to speak to or look at police officers during questioning, leading to a 30-day assessment of his mental health, and was sent back to detention on Tuesday, his wife Do Thi Thu told RFA on April 1.
“I called investigator Nguyen The Bac this morning, and he told me that my husband had been transferred from the National Psychiatric Hospital No. 1 back to Detention Center No. 1 on March 30,” Thu said, adding that the officer didn’t share the results of Phuong’s examination or say if he would be moved to the hospital again.