RELEASE OF FRENCH DISSIDENT JOURNALIST ARRESTED IN VIETNAM ON TERRORIST ACTIVITY CHARGES
December 23rd 2007 01:21
French journalist Nguyen Thi Thanh Van returned to Paris on December 12 after Vietnamese authorities released her from prison earlier that day, according to report in Media Asia on Friday.
"There was never any violence against me, but I was interrogated for one or two hours by policemen every day except Sundays. They tried to unsettle me. It was a form of moral terror," Thanh Van told Reporters Without Borders on her return after 25 days in prison.
She said the purpose of her Vietnam visit was to interview local dissidents and rural labourers, but local police arrested her and five other political activists, two nationals, two Vietnamese Americans, and one Thai, on November 17.
The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that the Vietnamese government informed Thanh Van's situation to French authorities after she was detained over 48 hours.
Thanh Van was imprisoned on charges of terrorist activities. During her detention she was forbidden contact with her family and friends, who urged the French government to intercede. After one reported failed attempt, the French embassy was able to arrange a consular representative's visit to the Ho Chi Min City prison to speak to her on November 30.
The 51-year-old journalist works on Viet Nam Dan Chu (Democracy in Vietnam), a monthly magazine run by the Vietnamese community in exile, and Chan Troi Moi (New Horizon), a Japan-and-US-based radio program broadcast to Vietnam. She is also the secretary general of the France-Vietnam Mutual Aid Organisation.
According to Committee to Protect Journalists, activists and journalists increasingly face imprisonment as Vietnam steps up crackdowns on pro-democracy movements.
- From MediaBlab
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