Updates IFEX alerts of 16 September 2004, 27 and 22 August, 19 and 17 June and 1 April 2003, 27 December, 26 July and 18 April 2002

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has urged the European Union Commissioner for External Relations and the US Secretary of State to press for cyber-dissident Pham Hong Son to be included in a forthcoming amnesty announced by Vietnamese authorities. Pham Hong Son is about to start his fourth year in jail.

"The Vietnamese government, which has recently released several cyber-dissidents, appears prepared to make some concessions in the human rights field. This would therefore seem to be an opportune moment to secure the release of the cyber-dissident," the organisation wrote.

The letter was sent on 24 March 2005 to Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner for External Relations, and Condoleeza Rice, US Secretary of State.

According to Agence France-Presse, the deputy minister for the police, General Le The Tiem, said the government was going to "amnesty prisoners detained for harming national security". The next amnesty will be on 30 April 2005, the anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.

Pham Hong Son, a doctor and the head of a pharmaceutical firm, has been in prison since 27 March 2002 for translating and posting an article on the Internet headlined, "What is democracy?", which he downloaded from the American embassy in Vietnam's website. He had previously posted several pro-democracy and human rights articles on Vietnamese discussion forums.

On 18 June 2003, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison for "espionage" and to three years house arrest under the supervision of the Hanoi People's Court. On 26 August, his sentence was reduced on appeal to five years in prison and three years house arrest.

Four cyber-dissidents and one journalist were released in June 2004. Apart from Pham Hong Son, two cyber-dissidents, Nguyen Khac Toan and Nguyen Vu Binh, remain in prison.