The human rights group Amnesty International says a Vietnamese dissident, jailed for posting articles on the internet, is suffering from a kidney disease worsened by poor living conditions.
The man, Le Chi Quang, 33, is reportedly being held in a prison camp where Amnesty says he is unable to receive the specialist medical attention he needs.
Mr Quang, a computer instructor, was arrested at an internet cafe in the capital, Hanoi, and jailed in November last year.
He was given a sentence of four years for posting articles that accused the Vietnamese authorities of making territorial concessions to China.
He also made calls for greater democracy and posted articles praising well-known dissidents.
The AFP news agency says the case against Mr Quang was regarded as a warning to others who might be tempted to use the internet as a platform to criticise the communist authorities.
23/09/2003 19:05:48 | ABC Radio Australia News