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Press Release

Reporters Sans Frontières

March 9, 2001

For information contact:
Vincent Brossel
Asia - Pacific Desk
33-1-44-83-84-70
asia@rsf.fr
www.rsf.fr

VIETNAM

Reporters Sans Frontières asks for the release of dissident Ha Sy Phu 

In a letter addressed today to Lt. General Le Minh Huong, Minister of Public Security, Reporters Sans Frontières (Reporters Without Borders ­ RSF) called for the end of the house arrest of Ha Sy Phu, author of the banned magazine Langbian. RSF considers that this measure deprives the dissident of his freedom and right to express himself. Robert Ménard, general secretary of RSF, noted that the harassment of Vietnamese journalists and dissidents is in contradiction with the international commitments made by the country, especially the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Vietnam in September 1982 and of which Article 19 guarantees freedom of expression. Finally, RSF also asked for the release of journalist Nguyen Dinh Huy jailed since November 1993. 

According to the information collected by RSF, Nguyen Xuan Tu, known under his pen name Ha Sy Phu, was formally placed under house arrest at his Dalat home on 8 February 2001 in accordance with the governmental decree 31/CP. This decision, which also concerns a former city council authority of Dalat, was announced on 12 February by the Vietnamese police newspaper, Cong An Nhan Dan. According to this publication, both dissidents were placed under house arrest because they made "contact with reactionaries living abroad to sabotage Vietnam". This measure was taken while demonstrations repressed by the authorities were taking place in this central highlands province. 

In December 1995, Ha Sy Phu was arrested and jailed for more than one year for revealing "State secrets". This 61-yers-old biologist, released under international pressure, is one of the leaders of a dissident group in Dalat, that created Langbian magazine. Under house arrest he is the victim of daily harassment by the police (searches at his home, confiscation of his computer, pressure on his family). Since Ha Sy Phu was released on 4 January 2001, he has had only five weeks of freedom in the last four years.

Reporters Sans Frontières defends jailed journalists and press freedom throughout the world, that is, the right to inform and be informed, in accordance with Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Reporters Sans Frontières has nine branches (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland), representatives in Bangkok, Tokyo, Washington and Abidjan and more than a hundred correspondents worldwide.

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