Human Rights Watch, Statement on Nguyen Quoc Duc Vuong, October 2019

Featured Image: a profile picture on Vuong’s Facebook with a caption that calls for the release of political prisoner Tran Huynh Duy Thuc. Source: Facebook Vuong Nguyen

Take action with Human Rights Watch (HRW) for Nguyen Quoc Duc Vuong, a businessman and Facebooker who was arrested in late September. Share this statement, urging authorities to free him and drop the charges against him.

Vuong Nguyen is a popular Facebooker with more than 10,500 followers. Besides sharing news articles, Vuong often live-streams to express his opinion and debate on national and social issues such as sovereignty, corruption, and land rights. HRW notes that “While it is unclear exactly which of his Facebook postings the government objected to, his account reflects a wide range of independent views that the Vietnam Communist Party and government might find objectionable. None, however, involve incitement to crime, violence, hate speech, or other content that can be subject to any criminal charge consistent with the right to freedom of expression, which Vietnam pledged to respect by joining the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”

We join Human Rights Watch in calling for Nguyen Quoc Duc Vuong’s immediate release, and we condemn the Vietnamese authorities’ continued practice of arbitrary arrest and detention of peaceful activists.