The campaign is intensifying to free imprisoned Vietnamese editor and academic Doan Viet Hoat, who is to be awarded the World Association of Newspapers' (WAN) Golden Pen of Freedom at its World Newspaper Congress in Kobe, Japan on 1 June. WAN awarded its 1998 Golden Pen of Freedom to Professor Doan in recognition of his courage in the struggle for freedom of expression and freedom of the press in Vietnam. Doan's wife, Tran Thuc Tran, is travelling from the United States to receive the award on his behalf. A protest letter, and information about Doan's case, can be viewed on the WAN website ( www.fiej.org), along with an appeal to interested parties to send the letter to Vietnam's leaders and join the campaign for Doan's release.

Professor Doan, editor and publisher of the pro-democracy newsletter "Dien Dan Tu Do" (Freedom Forum), was sentenced in March 1993 to 20 years of hard labour for his work with the newsletter. Professor Doan, who is reportedly in poor health and suffers from kidney stones, is serving his sentence, commuted to 15 years on appeal, in Thanh Cam prison. For further information, contact Larry Kilman, Director of Communications at WAN, 25, rue d'Astorg, 75008 Paris, France, tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00, fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48, email: lkilman@wan.asso.fr, http://www.fiej.org/.

The Free Vietnam Alliance, PEN Canada and the Canadian Committee to Protect Journalists (CCPJ) have joined WAN's campaign with their own statement, which includes all those imprisoned in Vietnam for exercising their right to freedom of expression. A copy of the statement will be available on the CCPJ's website at www.ccpj.ca and the FVA's website at www.fva.org, and supporters are urged to add their signatures to it by contacting the FVA in Paris, France at vndemo@fva.org, and to send protest letters of their own to the Vietnamese authorities. For more information, contact the CCPJ at 489 College St. #403, Toronto, Ontario M6G 1A5 Canada, tel: +1 416 515 9622, fax: +1 416 515 7879, e-mail: ccpj@ccpj.ca.