Wed Dec 31, 2:36 PM ET (AP)
WASHINGTON - The State Department denounced a seven-year sentence handed down by a Vietnamese court to a former journalist who used the Internet to criticize the country's communist government.
"We strongly condemn this harsh sentence," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Wednesday.
Nguyen Vu Binh, 35, was charged with gathering anti-government information and documents for "reactionary organizations" in exile to help them oppose the government, a Vietnamese government official said.
The official, asking not to be identified, said that Binh admitted during his trial that had contacts with foreign organizations but maintained he did nothing wrong.
The judge ruled his actions constituted espionage, the official added.
Ereli demanded Binh's immediate release. He said the United States is especially concerned that the Vietnamese government may have targeted Binh because he submitted testimony to congressional human rights caucuses in 2002.
Ereli said the United States believes that people should not be imprisoned "for the peaceful expression of their views. The sentence of Mr. Binh clearly violates international standards for the protection of human rights, including freedom of expression."
He said the Binh case is at least the third over the past year that has involved an individual who has posted his views on the Internet.
Binh was arrested in September 2002 for writing an article that circulated on the Internet criticizing a border agreement between Vietnam and China.
A month earlier, he joined 20 others in signing a petition to government leaders demanding legal reforms to protect human rights and to establish an independent anti-corruption body.
The State Department also has criticized Vietnam for not permitting religious freedom, alleging that religious activity is barred except for that which is carried out by organizations approved by the state.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent group which advises the government, said in early 2003 that Vietnam continues "to suppress organized religious activities and to harass leaders and followers of unregistered religious organizations, as well as clergy members of officially recognized religious groups."