Amid clampdown, another blogger sentenced in Vietnam
Bangkok, March 19, 2014–In a mounting clampdown on Internet freedom in Vietnam, blogger Pham Viet Dao was sentenced to prison today for online posts critical of the Communist Party-led government, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the ruling and calls for his immediate release.
In a two-hour trial, Hanoi’s People’s Court ruled that dozens of Dao’s blog entries violated Article 258 of the penal code, a vague and draconian law that bans “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe on the interests of the state.” Dao, who was first taken into police custody in June 2013 and held in pre-trial detention until today’s verdict, was handed a 15-month sentence, news reports said.