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| Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung adjusts his headphones during the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Bangkok (Reuters) |
An arrest warrant carrying the threat of a long jail sentence for the people behind three dissident blogs in Vietnam has been issued but bloggers Dan Lam Bao (not his real name) and Tran Hung Quoc said they would not give up - no matter what the government threw at them.
"We have no choice. Twenty years in jail to reclaim our rights as human beings is a price we are willing to pay if that is what it takes," said Dan.
A string of similar cases has already resulted in the death of the mother of one blogger, who set herself on fire in protest at the detention of her daughter in August. Dang Thi Kim Lieng, 64, died on the way to hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.
Her daughter, Ta Phong Tan, a former police officer who wrote a blog on social issues, was arrested in September 2011 on charges of propaganda against the state.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has turned up the pressure on bloggers and ordered police to crack down. He specifically targeted Dan Lam Bao, Quan Lam Bao and Bien Dong.
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Nguyen said the bloggers should be seriously punished. "They slandered the country's leadership, fabricated and distorted information, agitated against the party and the state, and caused suspicion and mistrust in society," he said.
According to Enemies of the Internet by international watchdog Reporters Without Borders, Vietnam is the second worst country in the world for internet freedom, just behind China.
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| Cartoon depicting communist cops and Vietnam's court system colluding to silence Vietnam's human-rights activists |
Arbitrary detention
Human Rights Watch has accused the government of "arbitrarily" detaining dozens of netizens "because of their work as citizen journalists, environmental advocates, anti-corruption crusaders and human rights defenders."
If arrested the bloggers working with Dan Lam Bao (People Doing Journalism), Quan Lam Bao (Officials Doing Journalism) and Bien Dong could add to the growing number behind bars.
Bloggers claim that the government is responsible for even more sinister methods to shut them up. "Policemen close to the PM made death threats to us," said Tran Hung Quoc, editor of Quan Lam Bao.
"[Authorithies] summon bloggers - especially those who are well-known - for interrogation and then threaten them to set an example and intimidate those who may be thinking of supporting the free movement of independent media or joining our independent blogging community," added blogger Dan Lan Bao, who preferred to remain anonymous for security reasons.
The Communist party, which has run the country since the end of the Vietnam War in the mid-70s, finding it harder to control the voices of dissent that are fast spreading across the web.
A report by market research company Cimigo revealed that Vietnam has the fastest growing internet population in southeast Asia. One in three Vietnamese has access to the internet.
Of the three target sites, Dan Lam Bao publishes mainly political articles. Quan Lam Bao has a more sensationalist approach to political news and often targets the PM and his private life. Bien Dong is dedicated to Vietnam's long-standing quarrel with China over territory in the South China Sea.
Before the arrest warrants were issued, the government, whose censorship firewall was easy to breach, said experts, used cyber attacks against dissident blogs.
"We have been attacked continuously through IT technology since a week after we were born," said Tran.
"Authorities employ various means such as DDoS [distributed denial of service attacks], viruses, firewalls and spyware," said Dan.
The campaign against them has backfired, however, and since the arrest warrants were issed, the audience for the three blogs rocketed.
"Thanks to the prime minister's care, we have had more than 1.5 millions views. He elevated us from being an unofficial source to the status of bright star in the web firmament," said.
Prepared to face repression
Dan Lan Bao's daily number of visitors doubled to 500,000 on the day the warrants werer issued, the bloggers claimed.
"[We] are prepared to face repression and imprisonment rather than lead the life of a dumb muzzled dog that dares not to bark and remains subservient to those who abuse their power," was one comment posted on the Dan Lan Bao page.
"No one can stop us fighting against the corrupt organisations that rule our country," echoed Tran.
They urged Western governments to help their campaign.
"No one can win a battle alone. We need the West to do more and more to help freedom of speech in Vietnam," said Tran.
"This government does not care about how much suffering it inflicts on our people but it does care much about foreign investments, economic deals and trade with third countries. Possible diplomatic and economic sanctions imposed by the West for human rights' violations are a big deal to authorities," Dan said.
The crackdown on the blogs might be a consequence of the stock market tumble that followed the arrest of tycoon Nguyen Duc Kien, the founder of one of Vietnam's largest banks, said observers.
Kien was arrested in August for suspected economic violations.
Dan Lan Bao had speculated that Kien's detention was not due to financial wrongdoings but because he fell victim to a power struggle at the top of government.
The prime minister is reportedly at odds with President Truong Tan Sang and the PM's daughter is said to be close to the arrested banker.
"The prime minister's order against us is a sign of victory for our struggle for free expression and independent media as we must have been touching the right spots to trigger this reprisal," said Dan.
Tran added: "If we have to die for a better Vietnam, we would be ready for it."
Umberto Bacchi
Danlambao’s Editorial Letter in Response to the Prime Minister’s Gag Order 7169
On September 12, 2012 the Office of the Prime Minister, Nguyen Tan Dung, issued an administrative order of sanction - file number 7169 - accusing “Danlambao” of “publishing information that is false, fabricated and untruthful to slander the leadership of the nation, to agitate the people against the Party and the State, to cause doubts and create bad publicity reducing the people’s trust in the state leadership”. The Order also directs the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Information Communication and Media to focus on investigations, and strictly discipline any organizations, groups or individuals who affiliate or in contact with Danlambao.
This accusation is nothing new and expected by Danlambao. We are awaiting to see how the Ministry of Public Security, together with the Ministry of Information Communication and Media would utilize their army of staff and the state’s powerful machinery, funded by our people’s tax money, to lawfully, transparently and publically prove on state-controlled media all the accusations contained in the Prime Minister’s Order no. 7169.
However, this administrative order also directs all ministries, state agencies, local officials, and public servants “not to read, to use, to spread nor to disseminate any information from Danlambao...” This particular order is a direct violation of the freedom of expression enshrined in our constitution and a violation of the international human rights convention that Vietnam is a signatory member. All public officials, Ministries’ staff members, and public servants, first of all are citizens of Vietnam, and secondly are the people’s representatives within the system. In order to fulfil efficiently and effectively their public duties, all state members must be entitled to the rights to access and assess freely all multi-dimensional information about the state and its system of which they are a component. These rights would enable them to recognize which criticism or proposal is right so that they could correct and improve in the public interests. After all, it is their public duty to listen to the people and their aspirations.
Danlambao does not accept and will not succumb to any state order aimed at muffling our mouth, blindfolding our eyes, and deafening our ears. No government or any political party in power has the right to choose and to decide for the people what information they can read, listen and exchange. Therefore Danlambao will continue to provide information and multi-dimensional views of all the people, and to create a forum where it is our readers who will report news, and inform and represent their own perspectives, and be heard over matters of concern which affect their daily lives. As readers and also citizen reporters, we at Danlambao, will not continue to allow our own opinion and thoughts to be “filtered”, “distorted”, “replaced”, “dripped” or “blocked” by any “sieve”, “sifter”, “net”, “funnel”, “megaphone” or “mouthpiece” or “gag order” of the State. That is the commitment from our community members of news blog, Danlambao, to each other.
Danlambao does not side with any faction within the Party nor allows ourselves to be influenced by any “foreign” or “hostile” forces -as accused in the Prime Minister’s order-. In choosing “which side” to represent, Danlambao decides to stand with the people. Danlambao chooses the public interests to guide its editorial philosophy. And it is in the best interests of our nation that Danlambao operates and establishes its guiding principles. We do not condone any group of political elite or power to influence or control Danlambao. It is the nation that we serve, not any political party. This is Danlambao’s second commitment to our readership.
Since the gag order 7169, which was publically broadcasted on state-controlled television and other state media in Vietnam, the number of pageviews on our news blog has soared to 500,000 pageviews the following day. In response to this apparent failure to threaten people to stop accessing and reading Danlambao, the authorities increased maximum firewalls in all regions and at all times. This measure succeeded in bringing down the number of pageviews back to 280,000 on average per day.
In the coming days, Danlambao is calling upon all our contributors, readers, news gatherers and supporters to continue sending a clear message to the Prime Minister that we are committed to our mission for freedom of expression and will not allow the State to abuse their power to deprive us of our human right by each of us:
- introducing a new friend to our community collective news blog, Danlambao.
- helping someone who does not yet know how to circumvent firewall.
- posting a positive and constructive comment to encourage others to hope for the best of our nation.
- scribbling the address of our blogspot <danlambaovn.blogspot.com> on Dong (Vietnam currency) bills (so that it can be exchanged and reaches other potential readers far and wide across our country).
- writing it on any walls, back-alleys or corner of the streets.
- drawing our Danlambao symbols: white pigeon (for peace) and green heart (for love) on tables at coffee shops, restaurants, public walls, sidewalks etc.
Together, we affirm that Danlambao is yours. Danlambao is ours. And together WE will walk the challenging journey with other free, independent journalists and bloggers to bring the truth and uncensored news with integrity and credibility to all.
Danlambao Editorial Team
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