Vittoria De Bortoli 

Human Rights Researcher 

Global Human Rights Defence

On October 25th 2022, Le Manh Ha, a Vietnamese journalist, was sentenced to eight years in prison and five years of probation on the charge of “making, possessing, disseminating or propagating information, documents and items aimed at opposing the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”, under Article 117 of Vietnam’s 2015 Penal Code, because of his campaign on behalf of farmers in Tuyen Quang province, who were displaced, and lost their home, because of a hydroelectric project. 

Hundreds of families, including Ha’s, had to relocate and were unfairly compensated for the land they lost. They sent petitions to various provincial and central government officials, but their complaints have not been successful.

After his arrest, the province’s newspaper and the local police newspaper stated that he shared, on his social media, articles and videos that propagandized, distorted and defamed the state and spread fabricated information to confuse people.

Article 117 of the Vietnam Penal Code prohibits distributing propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and is frequently utilized by authorities in order to suppress peaceful critics of the government. 

As a matter of fact, a few days later, the Committee to Protect Journalists, which promotes press freedom, stated that the country must stop equating independent journalism to criminal conduct and release all the journalists who were wrongly sentenced. They also noted how Vietnam is one of the most repressive places in Asia for citizen journalism, since the one-party communist regime uses many vague laws to silence journalists, in order to prevent the spread of any news that might be critical of the government, party, and state. 

This abuse of laws makes it nearly impossible, for independent journalists, to report on topics of public interest, including the environment, politics and human rights. 

To date, the country has 49 prisoners jailed on this charge, while a dozen have been detained for investigations. 

Sources and further reading: 

RFA Vietnam, “Vietnamese citizen journalist sentenced to jail for advocating for land petitioners”, RFA, Radio Free Asia (October 25, 2022). Retrieved on October 30, 2022. From: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/vietnam/le-manh-ha-10252022154821.html

CPJ, Committee to Protect Journalist, “Vietnamese journalist Le Manh Ha harshly sentenced to 8 years in prison”, CPJ (October 26, 2022). Retrieved on October 30, 2022. From: https://cpj.org/2022/10/vietnamese-journalist-le-manh-ha-harshly-sentenced-to-8-years-in-prison/

RFA Vietnam, “CPJ, Vietnam must ‘stop equating independent journalism with crime’”, RFA, Radio Free Asia (October 28, 2022). Retrieved on October 30, 2022. From: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/vietnam/cpj-vietnam-journalist-10282022030748.html

Photo supplied by Radio Free Asia