Popular blogger arrested for publishing anti state posts
According to Punch NG,
Vietnamese police have detained a prominent blogger for posting anti-state articles, the second such arrest this month as, the country’s communist authorities keep up their long-running crackdown on online dissent.
Commentator Nguyen Quang Lap was arrested at his house in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday afternoon, his wife told AFP news agency.
“More than a dozen security people searched our residence for several hours and took him away,” Ho Thi Hong said.
“They said his blog ran articles against the [communist] party’s policies and guidelines,” she added.
Lap, 58, a member of the official Vietnam Writers’ Association, is a well known figure in the southeast Asian nation. His blog has received millions of hits and his Facebook account has nearly 15,000 followers.
His website hosted his own writing and pieces by others, some of which often made critical points about social and political issues in Vietnam.
Many of the posts were strongly anti-China, reflecting widespread animosity among many Vietnamese, including intellectuals, for the country’s northern neighbour.
Hanoi and Beijing are currently locked in a long-standing territorial dispute over fishing rights and island chains in the South China Sea.
