Father Nguyen Van Ly, a Catholic priest and dissident who has been under house arrest since 19 February, accused of “hostile propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”

“We are very worried about these three dissidents and, in general, about all the pro-democracy activists who signed the ’Bloc 8406’ petition in their real names,” the press freedom organisation said. “Vietnam made a big effort to appear acceptable while negotiating its admittance to the World Trade Organisation and preparing the APEC summit, but now that is over, it is trying to stifle the pro-democracy movement that Nguyen Van Dai represents.”

Father Ly was on hunger strike from 24 February to 5 March, after he was transferred to the Ben Cui parish building in Phong Xuan, a town some distance from the central city of Hue, where he lives and helps to edit the independent magazine, Tu do Ngôn luan.

He is being guarded by about 20 policemen and is forbidden to leave the parish building. He is not allowed to go to church, cannot receive visits from friends and was reportedly manhandled by some of the policemen on 26 February. Reporters Without Borders calls on the authorities to permit Ly to return to Hue as soon as possible and to allow him to leave his home.

Vietnam is on the Reporters Without Borders list of 13 Internet Enemies. Four other cyber-dissidents – Truong Quoc Huy, Le Nguyen Sang (“Nguyen Hoang Long), Huynh Nguyen Dao (“Huynh Viet Lang”) and Nguyen Vu Binh – are currently detained.

http://www.rsf.org/Cyber-dissidents-Nguyen-Van-Dai.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguyen_Van_Ly