February 11, 2007
Among these citizens is Hoang Trung Kien, a farmer from Ninh Binh Province. Kien also sent his case to the Vietnam Net and other government-based websites with questions on how to seek legal remedies. While his questions have never been replied, at 7:20pm on the same day, he was ambushed and knocked off his bicycle by Tran Van Vy, a brother of the Chairman of Nam Thanh Ward, Ninh Binh Province. When Kien was still unconscious on the ground, other men joined in the beating. The assault left Hoang Trung Kien with a broken finger and two fractured ribs.
Ironically, while encouraging people to go online for open discussion, Mr. Nguyen Tan Dung recently signed Decree 37 strictly banning any forms of private press. At the same time, internet usage are tightly monitored and controlled. The list of well-known cyber dissidents being jailed includes Nguyen Vu Binh, Vu Hoang Hai, Pham The Hai, Tran Quoc Hien, Nguyen Ngoc Quang and Truong Quoc Huy. Aged 25, Mr. Truong Quoc Huy was arrested by plain-clothes police after they followed him into an Internet café and found him participating in a prodemocracy Paltalk program. Mr. Truong was later accused of inciting the population to “overthrow the government”. Other cases involved similar violations of citizens’ freedom of expression.
In 2006, Reporters Without Border listed Vietnam’s Government as Enemy of the Internet for its restrictions and persecutions of cyber dissidents.
