Prominent Vietnamese blogger arrested for criticising the government
Hanoi - Police in southern Vietnam have arrested an award-winning blogger for "propagandising against the state," news reports said Tuesday.
37-year-old Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, a winner of the Civil Rights Defender award, was arrested on Monday, with officials searching her house, online newspaper VNexpress said.
Authorities accused her of using her blog and social media accounts to post writings and video clips that "distort the truth and history, against the guidelines and policy of the party and the state," according to a statement posted on the Khanh Hoa Province Police website late Monday.
Police said Quynh's arrest was in accordance with the law.
One of her posts included an appeal to "stop police killing civilians," listing 35 people who died after temporarily being detained by Vietnamese police.
Quynh's Facebook "Me Nam" which means "Mother Mushroom" was launched in 2012 and is one of Vietnam's most read dissident blogs, with 5,000 friends and thousands of followers.
She was not able to travel to Sweden to accept the Civil Rights Defender of the Year 2015 award in person due to a travel ban imposed on her by the Vietnamese government.
- DPA
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