Vietnam jails 5 journalists for posting criticism online
Bernama
October 29, 2021 12:50 MYT
October 29, 2021 12:50 MYT
Five Vietnamese journalists were jailed for between two and four-and-a-half years on Thursday for posting stories online that criticised the communist government, media reported. - Sinar Harian photo
MOSCOW: Five Vietnamese journalists were jailed for between two and four-and-a-half years on Thursday for posting stories online that criticised the communist government, media reported.
A district court near the southern city of Can Tho convicted the journalists of "abusing democratic freedoms" with their social media posts, Sputnik quoted the VnExpress newspaper report.
The five created a group called Clean Journalism in August 2019 with a Facebook page and a YouTube channel. It was disbanded after one of the suspects was arrested in late 2020.
The Vietnamese authorities reportedly said that the group's articles "masqueraded as anti-corruption" pieces but were "corruption itself". All five were banned from working as journalists for three years.
-- BERNAMA