Vietnam silences online activists

Human rights group Amnesty International has slammed the Vietnamese government for jailing at least 10 people for online activitism, saying the government is using national security legislation to prosecute government criticism on the web.

With only 2.5 million internet users out of a population of 80 million, and most accessing the internet through internet cafes, the Vietnamese government wants to encourage use of the internet for economic growth. However, it closely controls and monitors internet use and has jailed at least 10 people for online activity since 2001, Amnesty International said.

Amnesty International released a 34-page report on Vietnam the same day of an annual human rights talk between Vietnam and the European Union in Hanoi.

"In Vietnam, clicking on the 'send' button carries the risk of being sent to prison and having your friends and family put under 24 hour surveillance," the report said.

The report documents 10 cases, with six "cyber-dissidents" serving long prison sentences, and the others awaiting trial. Some cases involve emails to US-based activists reporting religious activism and farmer protests in Vietnam.

In one highlighted case, a 48-year-old former soldier and businessman, Nguyen Khac Toan was jailed for 12 years on espionage charges for sending information about farmer protests to overseas Vietnamese groups. Another businessman, Pham Hong Son had his 13 year sentence reduced to five years after an international outcry, for the crime of posting online an article about democracy.

"How can the sharing of information, which is already in the public domain and criticising the government, be interpreted as 'espionage' resulting in lengthy prison sentences?" the report questioned.

Amnesty called for unconditional release of those imprisoned by the Vietnamese government for expressing their views, and for internet restrictions to be lifted.