(Screenshot from https://x.com/nytimesworld/status/1799350749320671483)
Vietnamese authorities have arrested one of the country’s most prominent journalists, accusing him of “abusing democratic freedoms” by posting articles on Facebook that “violate the interests of the state and the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and individuals.”
According to a prominent Vietnamese blogger, journalist Truong Huy Sang, known to many by his pen name Huy Duc, was detained last week, but there was no official confirmation until Friday night, when state media reported that the Ministry of Public Security was investigating Sang’s Facebook posts, the details of which were unclear.
The arrest is an ominous sign for other writers in Vietnam. Vietnam’s Communist Party has long frequently cracked down on dissent, and journalists have been targets. But Sang has long navigated a very narrow space for independent thought, frequently publishing articles critical of the government. His connections to high-ranking government officials were thought to provide a buffer, but that hasn’t been the case until now.
San’s case is part of a broader crackdown on civil society that many rights groups say has grown in size and scope in recent years. Human Rights Watch said the law she allegedly violated is an “overly broad” one that authorities often use against government critics.
“Huy Duc is Vietnam’s most influential journalist,” said Ben Swanton, director of the 88 Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit that focuses on human rights issues in Vietnam. “His arrest is a stunning attack on press freedom and the latest in an ongoing crackdown on reformers.”
Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists and PEN America have all called on the government to release Sun.
Vietnamese state media reported on Sang’s case and the arrest of another lawyer, Tran Dinh Trien, who was charged with the same crimes as Sang. Trien is a former vice president of the Hanoi Bar Association and has represented many clients in high-profile cases. He was also arrested over a Facebook post.
After Sun, 62, disappeared on June 1, his Facebook account, which had more than 350,000 followers, was deactivated and his posts deleted.
Screenshots archived by the 88 Project show that on May 26, San attacked the police on Facebook with the headline “A country cannot develop with fear,” criticizing the concentration of power in the Ministry of Public Security, headed by recently appointed Prime Minister To Lam.
On May 28, Sang published an article criticizing the anti-corruption crackdown launched by Vietnam’s Communist Party strongman, Nguyen Phu Trong. Sang wrote that the fight against corruption needs to be done through the organization, not by “removing” multiple corrupt officials.
In 2016, Trong vowed to launch a “fierce” anti-corruption campaign to root out “evil roots” and cleanse the party, but it also plunged Vietnam into turmoil with an unprecedented number of senior resignations.
“If Chung doesn’t lay out a political roadmap to make the country more democratic, his cleanliness is meaningless,” San wrote in a May 28 post.
Sang received the Hubert H. Humphrey Scholarship to study at the University of Maryland from 2005 to 2006. After returning to Vietnam in 2006, he launched a popular blog publishing social and political commentary. Vietnamese authorities shut down the blog in 2010.
In 2012, Sun spent a year at Harvard University on a Nieman Fellowship, during which he wrote “The Winning Side,” a journalistic account of Vietnam’s postwar period. The book, banned in Vietnam, is widely considered to be the definitive account of postwar Vietnamese history and politics.
According to the 2024 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders, Vietnam ranks 174th out of 180 countries and territories.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the country is “the worst country for imprisoning journalists,” with at least 19 reporters imprisoned as of December.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
In 2023, Vietnamese authorities have imprisoned at least 19 writers for freedom of expression. We reiterate our call for the release of writer Truong Huy Sang from unjust detention, along with all other writers unjustly imprisoned by the Vietnamese government. Learn more: https://t.co/lJru2pkCOz pic.twitter.com/AdbdKL2pfr
— PEN America (@PENamerica) June 7, 2024
Political blogger Truong Huy Sang, commonly known as Osinh Huy Duc, was arrested last night. A former journalist, he is well known and well connected. Duc wrote a book on contemporary Vietnam called “The Winning Side”. He was a Hubert Humphrey Fellow in 2006 and a Nieman Fellow in 2012. pic.twitter.com/40XjFXwU10
— Nga Pham (@ngahpham) June 1, 2024