Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) in a letter to Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Prime Minister of Vietnam expressed concern over the arrest of Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, an independent blogger for trying to visit an imprisoned political activist in the central coastal town of Nha Trang.
PPF Secretary General Owais Aslam Ali in his letter urged the Vietnam government to immediately and unconditionally release Quynh and drop all charges against her. Also ensure the physical and psychological security of Quynh.
According to Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), on October 10, police arrested Quynh Quynh, a founding member of the independent group Network of Vietnamese Bloggers. Police raided her house and confiscated her computer and other electronic equipment.
In search at her house police also found placards with slogans calling on the Vietnamese government to file a legal case against the Taiwan-owned Formosa Plastics steel plant for its role in a toxic spill that caused mass fish deaths in April off the coast of Vietnam’s central Ha Tinh and nearby provinces.
During the raid at her house almost 10 government vehicles and 50 police officials blocked the road leading to her house.
She was kept in Song Lo prison and charged under Article 88 of the penal code, a provision that carries maximum prison penalties of 20 years in jail for the vague crime of “propagandizing” against the state.
Quynh’s mother, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Lan, told the independent local language blog Dan Lam Bao that police threatened to imprison Quynh for a couple of years while raiding her house.
