Authorities in Vietnam have arrested a leading independent journalist for “abusing democratic freedoms” to undermine the state by posting articles on Facebook, police announced.
Huy Duc was detained for investigation for posts that “violate the interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and individuals,” the Ministry of Public Security said.
The 62-year-old former senior lieutenant worked for several influential newspapers in Vietnam before being fired in 2009 for criticizing the country’s former communist ally the Soviet Union.
Shortly before his arrest, Duc took aim at Vietnam’s new president, To Lam, as well as Nguyen Phu Trong, the communist party general secretary and most powerful individual in the country’s political system.
Lawyer Tran Dinh Trien was held along with Duc on the same charges.
Communist one-party Vietnam has strict curbs on freedom of expression, and Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, ranks it 174th out of 180 countries for press freedom, describing it as one of the world’s worst jailers of journalists.
Duc’s blog, one of the most popular in authoritarian Vietnam, was highly critical of government responses on issues including control of the media, relations with China and corruption.
Duc, whose real name is Truong Huy San, spent a year at Harvard University on a Nieman Fellowship in 2012. During his time abroad, his account of life in Vietnam after the end of the war with the United States, “The Winning Side,” was published.
