Vietnam free high-profile blogger, US call for more releases
September 21, 2015 11:02
Vietnam has freed a high-profile blogger who has travelled to the United States, which is pressing for more such dissidents to be released.
"We welcome the decision by Vietnamese authorities to release Ta Phong Tan who decided to travel to the United States after her release from prison," said Terry White, a US Embassy public affairs officer.
"We remain deeply concerned for all persons imprisoned in Vietnam for exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms and call on the government to release unconditionally all these prisoners and allow all Vietnamese to express their political views without fear of retribution," he said.
Tan, 47, a former policewoman, was arrested in 2011 for writing about human rights and corruption on her blog and sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of spreading anti-state propaganda in a trial that also convicted fellow blogger Nguyen Van Hai, better known as Dieu Cay.
"We welcome the decision by Vietnamese authorities to release Ta Phong Tan who decided to travel to the United States after her release from prison," said Terry White, a US Embassy public affairs officer.
"We remain deeply concerned for all persons imprisoned in Vietnam for exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms and call on the government to release unconditionally all these prisoners and allow all Vietnamese to express their political views without fear of retribution," he said.
Tan, 47, a former policewoman, was arrested in 2011 for writing about human rights and corruption on her blog and sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of spreading anti-state propaganda in a trial that also convicted fellow blogger Nguyen Van Hai, better known as Dieu Cay.
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