ALBAWABA - A Vietnamese court sentenced a well-known government critic and journalist to seven years in prison on allegations of spreading propaganda on Tuesday.
Political activist Nguyen Vu Binh was charged with spreading propaganda against the government while writing about land rights, corruption, and the environment.
Analysts claim that in recent years, Vietnamese authorities have tightened their crackdown on opposition. According to the press freedom advocacy organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), it is the third largest jailer of journalists worldwide.
Binh was detained in late February on the same day as prominent YouTuber and activist Nguyen Chi Tuyen, who advocated for land rights and against pollution. Binh has worked as a journalist for the official publication of the Communist Party of Vietnam for ten years.
Tuyen was sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty last month of "making, storing, and disseminating information, documents, and materials against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam".
Binh wrote for Radio Free Asia, where he discussed corruption, land rights, the environment, and Vietnam's ties with China and the US. Binh earned the coveted Hellman/Hammett prize for victims of political persecution in 2002 and 2007.
According to Human Rights Watch, Vietnamese authorities convicted and punished at least seven human rights activists in August and September on similar charges.
