Vietnam blogger 'Mother Mushroom' jailed for 10 years
Vietnam blogger 'Mother Mushroom' jailed for 10 years
June 29, 2017
Vietnamese blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (L), also known
as "Mother Mushroom", stands trial at a courthouse in the central
city of Nha Trang on June 29 (AFP Photo/STR)
A prominent Vietnamese blogger known as 'Mother Mushroom'
was jailed for 10 years on Thursday, her lawyer said, during a brief trial
rights groups decried as "outrageous".
Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, whose pen name derives from her
daughter's nickname "mushroom", was arrested in October 2016 and
later charged with anti-state propaganda over critical Facebook posts about
politics and the environment.
Vietnam's one-party state keeps a tight clamp on dissent
and routinely jails activists, bloggers and lawyers who speak out against the
communist regime.
The 37-year-old blogger faced a maximum of 12 years in
prison, and her lawyer said the heavy sentence she received at the closed-door
trial was "harsh".
"I am not happy with the result of the trial
today," Nguyen Kha Thanh told AFP, adding that Quynh would likely appeal.
AFP was barred from attending the one-day trial in
south-central Khanh Hoa province Thursday, which was heavily guarded by police,
according to images on social media.
Thanh said Quynh was calm throughout the trial. In a
pre-sentence statement she admitted no guilt and instead used the opportunity
to send a message to her two kids and mother, the lawyer added.
"She apologised to her mother and the two kids for
what effect this has had on them, but she said they must be very proud of
her," Thanh told AFP.
- Woman of Courage award -
Quynh was charged under Article 88 of Vietnam's criminal
code and held incommunicado with no access to lawyers until June 20, according
to Thanh.
She has been a vocal critic of Vietnam's human rights
record, civilian deaths in police custody and the government's handling of a
toxic leak that killed tonnes of fish last year.
She was arrested in Nha Trang on October 10 as she was
visiting a fellow activist in prison.
In the verdict, the judge said Quynh had defamed the
government, harmed national unity, eroded popular trust of the government and
undermined national security.
She was also convicted for publishing inaccurate
information to humiliate the police and erode public trust in them, based on
her reports about police brutality.
Human Rights Watch earlier decried the trial as
"outrageous" and demanded her release.
"The scandal here is not what Mother Mushroom said,
but Hanoi's stubborn refusal to repeal draconian, rights-abusing laws that
punish peaceful dissent and tarnish Vietnam's international reputation,"
Phil Robertson, HRW deputy Asia director said in a statement Wednesday.
The United States, Britain and the European Union have
all called for Quynh's release.
Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Le Thi
Thu Hang said Thursday "all acts that violate the law will be seriously
punished in accordance with Vietnamese laws" when asked about the case.
Quynh received an International Woman of Courage Award
from the US State Department in March, which Vietnam said was "not
appropriate and of no benefit for the development of relations between the two
countries".
In 2015, she was awarded the Civil Rights Defender of the
Year by a Sweden-based international advocacy group.
Comments
Post a Comment