Vietnam has announced the release of several dissidents ahead of negotiations with the United States over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal.
Nguyễn Tiến Trung, a 30-year old blogger and political activist, was freed over the weekend after serving four years. He was not due for release till 2017 after being found guilty of attempting to “overthrow the people’s administration.”
Another prominent activist and writer, Vi Đức Hồi, 56, was released on Friday eighteen months earlier than expected, following an eight year jail term imposed for using the Internet to promote democracy. He was expelled from Vietnam’s all-powerful Communist Party in 2007 after calling for democratic reforms.
Their release came after Cù Huy Hà Vũ, 56, a human rights lawyer and perhaps Vietnam’s most famous dissident, was also freed. In a one-day trial, Vũ was sentenced in April 2011 to seven years in prison and three years of house arrest on charges that included conducting propaganda against the state, calling for multiparty government and demanding the abolishment of the party’s leadership. He arrived in the United States with his wife last Monday (April 7), having left Vietnam soon after his release.
The TPP trade deal will tie the United States to 11 countries around the Pacific, from Australia and East Asia to Chile and South America. Vietnam is expected to gain significantly through greater access to the American market. China, a major Vietnamese rival, is not involved in the talks.
Rupert Abbott, Amnesty International’s deputy Asia-Pacific director, said the human rights group was delighted with the release of the dissidents but he also stressed that they should not have been jailed in the first place.
“The releases are a step in the right direction for freedom of expression and we hope that they reflect a shift in Vietnam’s commitment to respecting human rights,” he said.
