In a decision announced on September 22, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) in Geneva ruled favourably to a petition regarding the detention of Vietnamese activist Nguyen Dang Minh Man. In a response to the petition submitted by Media Legal Defence Initiative (MLDI), the Working Group determined her detention was arbitrary and called for her immediate release. The text of Opinion 40/2016 can be found below.
As Vietnamese authorities intensify their efforts to silence critical voices beyond the country’s borders, the European Parliament hosted a conference dedicated to transnational repression carried out by the Hanoi regime.
Over the past several years, Vietnamese authorities have increasingly extended their mechanisms of control and repression far beyond the country’s borders. After unleashing an unprecedented wave of repression against citizen journalists, human rights defenders, and dissident voices inside Vietnam, the communist regime, under the leadership of General To Lam, is intensifying its actions against activists and opponents living abroad.
Over the past two years, the level of repression under Communist Party Chief To Lam, who holds the rank of Police General, has increased in severity against both citizens within the country and individuals in the Vietnamese diaspora.
On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, Viet Tan wishes to highlight a troubling reality: there is no genuine press freedom in Vietnam. All authorized media outlets operate under the strict control of the communist regime and are subject to systematic censorship.
