{"id":37980,"date":"2017-10-25T17:00:06","date_gmt":"2017-10-25T17:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/queme.org\/?p=37980\/"},"modified":"2017-11-20T08:39:53","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T08:39:53","slug":"rfa-vietnamese-blogger-phan-kim-khanh-given-six-year-prison-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/rfa-vietnamese-blogger-phan-kim-khanh-given-six-year-prison-term\/","title":{"rendered":"[RFA] Vietnamese Blogger Phan Kim Khanh Given Six-Year Prison Term"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"Dissident
Dissident blogger Phan Kim Khanh is shown in an undated photo. (Facebook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Radio Free Asia – 2017-10-25<\/p>\n

Vietnamese democracy advocate and blogger Phan Kim Khanh was sentenced on Wednesday to six years in prison by a court in northeastern Vietnam\u2019s Thai Nguyen province on charges of spreading \u201cpropaganda against the state\u201d<\/em> in a trial rights groups described as \u201cunfair.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Khanh, 24 and a senior student of the Faculty of International Studies of Thai Nguyen University at the time of his March 21 arrest, had posted anti-corruption writings aimed at Communist Party and government leaders on his two blogs.<\/p>\n

Khanh will also serve four years of house arrest after completing his prison term, according to the court\u2019s sentence.<\/p>\n

Speaking to RFA\u2019s Vietnamese Service following Khanh\u2019s trial, defense attorney Ha Huy Son called the evidence against Khanh \u201cvery vague.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate that he was accused of [carrying out] \u2018propaganda against the state,\u2019\u201d <\/em>Son said. \u201cI presented many things to the court that should have been seriously considered, but in the end they still gave him that sentence.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Khanh\u2019s father Phan Kim Dung was permitted to attend the trial, but several activists who went to show their support were not allowed in, sources told RFA.<\/p>\n

Former prisoner of conscience Bui Thi Minh Hang, who was barred from the building, said that following recent moves by authorities to crack down on dissidents, \u201cactivists have all prepared themselves for these kinds of heavy sentences to be handed down by the government.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cNo one is happy about this sentence given to Khanh,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

‘Law of the jungle’<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In a video clip posted on Facebook following the trial, Khanh\u2019s mother Do Thi Lap voiced support for her son\u2019s activities online, calling him a patriot.<\/p>\n

\u201cVietnam\u2019s current law is vague. It\u2019s more like the law of the jungle,\u201d<\/em> she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I could see Khanh now, I would tell him that his father and I have always supported what he\u2019s done. I believe that he acted as he did because he is a patriot.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In an Oct. 25 statement, the Paris-based Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR) said Khanh\u2019s only crime had been \u201cto peacefully express his legitimate views.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHis unfair trial and groundless conviction show just one thing: that Vietnam is afraid of criticism; it feels threatened when its citizens communicate, get together and share concerns about their country\u2019s future,\u201d <\/em>VCHR President Vo Van Ai said.<\/p>\n

Article 88 of Vietnam\u2019s Criminal Code, under which Khanh was charged and sentenced, is \u201croutinely invoked to detain government critics and human rights defenders, [and] has been strongly denounced by the United Nations as inconsistent with international human rights law,\u201d<\/em> VCHR said.<\/p>\n

In a statement released on Oct. 24, Human Rights Watch (HRW) Asia director Brad Adams said \u201cVietnam ought to get rid of these laws and stop persecuting students and ordinary people for just talking about the country\u2019s problems on the Internet.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe only crime Phan Kim Khanh committed was to express political views disapproved by the authorities,\u201d<\/em> Adams said. \u201cStudents should be encouraged to write about social and political problems\u2014not punished.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Campaign of repression<\/strong><\/p>\n

Khanh\u2019s arrest and trial come amid an ongoing campaign of repression targeting dissident bloggers and activists, with at least 28 people arrested and charged under vaguely worded national security laws, HRW said.<\/p>\n

Speaking to RFA, several dissident bloggers criticized a statement this week by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc that Vietnam should be strict in handling cases of online discussions that \u201cabuse democracy and provoke social instability.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat he said is not consistent with social development,\u201d<\/em> Vo Van Don, an attorney based in Vietnam\u2019s coastal Phu Yen province, said. \u201cIt is the right of every human being to speak out about what they think. This doesn\u2019t \u2018abuse democracy.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just telling the truth. I\u2019m not against anyone,\u201d<\/em> added blogger Phan Tat Thanh, who has drawn pressure from the police for his posts on his Facebook page.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve told the security forces that they can protect the country in their own way, while I protect it in mine,\u201d <\/em>he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey always want to put makeup on it to \u2018make it look beautiful,\u2019 but I want to put medicine on it. Medicine may be bitter, but it helps to cure diseases.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Reported by RFA\u2019s Vietnamese Service. Translated by Emily Peyman. Written in English by Richard Finney.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Radio Free Asia – 2017-10-25 Vietnamese democracy advocate and blogger Phan Kim Khanh was sentenced on Wednesday to six years in prison by a court in northeastern Vietnam\u2019s Thai Nguyen province on charges of spreading \u201cpropaganda against the state\u201d in a trial rights groups described as \u201cunfair.\u201d Khanh, 24 and a senior student …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":434,"featured_media":37981,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[113,60],"tags":[313,528],"class_list":["post-37980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-news","category-press-review","tag-national-security","tag-phan-kim-khanh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/434"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}