Prominent Vietnamese blogger freed from jail, sent to U.S.

Vietnam has freed a leading dissident whose case was raised by U.S. President Barack Obama, and he was due to arrive late Tuesday in the United States, an American official said. Nguyen Van Hai, one of Vietnam’s most prominent bloggers, has chosen to move to the United States, State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters. Hai, alias Dieu Cay, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in September 2012 by a court in southern Vietnam on charges of “anti-state propaganda.” Two other bloggers received jail terms of 10 years and four years. Hai, who went on hunger strike at least twice to protest his jailing, has been in detention since September 2008, after first being sentenced to two-and-a-half years for tax fraud. Hai’s former wife, Duong Thi Tan, told Radio Free Asia that he was not given any choice, but was taken straight from his jail cell to the airport and put on a plane to the United States. Tan said their son told her that Hai called while his flight was on a stopover in Hong Kong.

Hai could not call us at home. In fact, they did not let the family know anything about his release. There was no signal or notice. They deported him to exile, they did not release him just like what they said.

Hai’s former wife, Duong Thi Tan

The U.S. State Department welcomed Hanoi’s decision to release “this prisoner of conscience.” The news comes only weeks after Washington partially lifted a 40-year ban on arms sales to Hanoi, citing some “modest” progress in human rights as one of the reasons for reviewing a prohibition in place since the Vietnam War. Dozens of peaceful political activists have been jailed since Vietnam began a new crackdown on dissent in late 2009. Vietnam bans private media, and all newspapers and television channels are state-run.

Asia-Pacific