December 11, 2007
On Tuesday Vietnam expelled a Vietnamese-American activist arrested in November, after the United States had requested explanations from Hanoi about his arrest and three other American citizens, the official media have announced.
Leon Truong, a member of the banned party Viet Tan, “was transferred to the American authority” and left Vietnam on a flight of China Airlines, the Vietnamese Television said.
Media added that Mr. Truong was released because of “his cooperative attitude with the authorities” and was ordered to leave Vietnam within 14 hours.
A few hours earlier, the American ambassador in Hanoi, Michael Michalak, said he didn’t receive “any formal notification of the charges” against Leon Truong and the three other American nationals suspected of terrorism by Hanoi.
“If they are detained for the peaceful expression of their political opinions, we strongly protest and we call for their immediate release,” the ambassador said.
On November 17, 2007, the Ho Chi Minh City’s police arrested six political activists, including two Americans, Nguyen Quoc Quan and Truong Leon, members of Viet Tan.
Based in California, this party which claims to promote non-violent struggle for democratic changes in Vietnam, the party is forbidden to operate inside Vietnam and the government “classifies” it as terrorist organization, where the Communist Party has a monopoly on power.
A few days after the arrests, police arrested at the airport in Ho Chi Minh City two other American citizens, Le Van Phan and Nguyen Thi Thinh. According to Vietnamese media, security forces reportedly found a firearm in the luggage of one of them.