Displaying items by tag: political prisoners

Last year Vietnam passed a cybersecurity law requiring social media sites to remove any content requested by the government. Of the 128 political prisoners in jail, approximately 10% were jailed over alleged Facebook posts. Nguyen Nang Tinh, a 43-year-old Christian music teacher, has been sentenced to eleven years in prison on charges of propaganda against the state in Facebook posts. On 17 September, police officially closed the investigation and set a court date. On 17 November he was sentenced by the courts, a month later than originally scheduled. He was charged with ‘fabricated, preserved and disseminated information, materials and objects with the aim of opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’. The posts in question were made under a Facebook account with the same name, though Tinh has repeatedly claimed that it is not his.

In a surprise move, Hailemariam Desalegn, the Ethiopian prime minister, has announced the release of political prisoners and the closure of a notorious detention centre, allegedly used as a torture chamber. He said the move was designed to allow political dialogue. It is still unclear exactly who will be released or when it will happen. Ethiopia is accused by rights groups of using mass arrests to stifle opposition. Amnesty International welcomed Mr Hailemariam's announcement, saying it could signal ‘the end of an era of bloody repression in Ethiopia’.