My Tho City: Tran Hoang Huan, a 33 year old Catholic Face-booker was arrested by Tien Giang province's authorities on August 10, 2021 for "production, possession, dissemination of anti-government documents" pursuant to Article 117 of Vietnam Criminal Code.
From his Facebook page "Huan Tran", Huan published numerous articles, expressing his view on how poorly the government has been handling the COVID pandemic, calling for the people's right to refuse Chinese vaccines, and challenging the government to forgive utilities fee during the 3 months of July, August, and September when many cities in Vietnam under lockdown due to COVID.
Due to a heavy censorship from the government, an increasingly large number of Vietnamese citizens, many of whom are young and educated, has been taking alternative platforms to voice their opinions on sensitive issues. Facebook is one of their favorites. However, they are constantly being monitored and harassed by a group of government agents known as "internet trolls" -a carbon copy of the China 's 50 Cent Army- which Vietnamese netizens often referred to as "red bull" for the group's sole purpose is to attack and silence those who are having opposite views with the authorities. Thanks to the effort of this group, many dissidents in Vietnam had to flee Vietnam to seek asylum in the West. Others had been tried and jailed for their political an s social views. Among them were father Nguyen Van Ly, a Catholic priest and winner of 2002 Vietnam Human Rights Award, Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang, Minister of the Vietnam Mennonite Church, Nguyen Bac Truyen, a Hoa Hao Buddhist and human rights defender, according to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. An email has recently been widely on social media to advocate for the release of more than 260 prisoners of conscience who are being held under extreme condition for variety of charges, ranging from "spreading anti - government agendas or working to overthrow the regime, to abusing human rights or illegal religious activities". This letter accused Vietnam authorities of denying access to defenders' right to due process, especially right to a legal counsel from the beginning of their case, and challenged the legal ground of the offenses.
From his Facebook page "Huan Tran", Huan published numerous articles, expressing his view on how poorly the government has been handling the COVID pandemic, calling for the people's right to refuse Chinese vaccines, and challenging the government to forgive utilities fee during the 3 months of July, August, and September when many cities in Vietnam under lockdown due to COVID.
Due to a heavy censorship from the government, an increasingly large number of Vietnamese citizens, many of whom are young and educated, has been taking alternative platforms to voice their opinions on sensitive issues. Facebook is one of their favorites. However, they are constantly being monitored and harassed by a group of government agents known as "internet trolls" -a carbon copy of the China 's 50 Cent Army- which Vietnamese netizens often referred to as "red bull" for the group's sole purpose is to attack and silence those who are having opposite views with the authorities. Thanks to the effort of this group, many dissidents in Vietnam had to flee Vietnam to seek asylum in the West. Others had been tried and jailed for their political an s social views. Among them were father Nguyen Van Ly, a Catholic priest and winner of 2002 Vietnam Human Rights Award, Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang, Minister of the Vietnam Mennonite Church, Nguyen Bac Truyen, a Hoa Hao Buddhist and human rights defender, according to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. An email has recently been widely on social media to advocate for the release of more than 260 prisoners of conscience who are being held under extreme condition for variety of charges, ranging from "spreading anti - government agendas or working to overthrow the regime, to abusing human rights or illegal religious activities". This letter accused Vietnam authorities of denying access to defenders' right to due process, especially right to a legal counsel from the beginning of their case, and challenged the legal ground of the offenses.