Vietnam frees prominent cyber-dissident

Vietnam has released a prominent government critic convicted of spying against the communist government, two weeks before Vietnam's president makes a historic visit to the U.S., an official said Sunday. Nguyen Vu Binh, 39, was released from Nam Ha prison on Saturday under a presidential amnesty, said Pham Hong Canh, deputy director of the prison in Ha Nam province, 40 miles south of Hanoi.
Binh, a former journalist, was one of Vietnam's first "cyber-dissidents," who used the Internet to spread pro-democracy views. In late 2003, he was convicted of spying and sentenced to seven years in prison and three years of house arrest. The court said he had committed espionage by gathering anti-government information and documents for overseas "reactionary organizations."
Binh's early release comes as Washington has grown increasingly concerned about the arrest and jailing of a number of dissidents in Vietnam.
Last month,
President Bush' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> President Bush met at the White House with four Vietnamese-American pro-democracy activists, including one who had been held in a Vietnamese prison. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Vietnam's crackdown on expression was "out of keeping with Vietnam's desire to prosper, modernize and take a more prominent role in world affairs."
President Nguyen Minh Triet is scheduled to make a June 22 visit to the United States, the first by a Vietnamese president. After the White House formally invited Triet to Washington, Vietnamese Vice Foreign Minister Le Van Bang announced last week that Hanoi would release three dissidents before the two presidents meet. He did not say which prisoners would be released.
Binh was arrested in September 2002 for writing an article that circulated on the Internet criticizing a border agreement between Vietnam and China. A month earlier, he joined 20 others in signing a petition to government leaders demanding legal reforms to protect human rights and establish an independent anti-corruption body.
That same year, he also submitted written testimony to the U.S. Congress criticizing Vietnam's human rights record.
Binh left his job at the Tap Chi Cong San newspaper in 2001 after applying to form an independent opposition political party. The Communist Party, Vietnam's only political party, strictly forbids any calls for a multiparty system.
Last month, a Vietnamese court sentenced three pro-democracy activists to up to five years in prison apiece after convicting them of spreading subversive propaganda. The U.S. Embassy in Hanoi issued a statement saying it was "deeply troubled" by the convictions, and noting a "disturbing increase" in the harassment of dissidents.
In March, a Catholic priest was sentenced to eight years in prison for disseminating materials intended to undermine the government and communicating with anti-communist groups overseas.
Source: Yahoo! News