Top Vietnam blogger arrested

Top Vietnam blogger Le Quoc Quan arrested for tax evasion

 

Le Quoc Quan writes a popular blog exposing human rights abuses

One of Vietnam's best-known dissidents, lawyer and blogger Le Quoc Quan, has been arrested on charges of tax evasion, state media reports say.

Mr Quan was arrested on Thursday as he was dropping his children off to school in Hanoi, they said.
He has been jailed before, and had recently complained of being under surveillance and harassment.
Communist Vietnam has liberalised its economy but suppresses political opposition and bans private media.
All newspapers and television channels are state-run.
In a separate development three other prominent bloggers appeared in court on Friday to appeal against their prison sentences for "anti-state propaganda", a lawyer told the AFP news agency.
Nguyen Van Hai - whose case has been highlighted by US President Barack Obama, and former policewoman Ta Phong Tan received 12 and 10 years in jail respectively at a brief trial in September. A third blogger was jailed for four years.
The three were accused of posting political articles on a banned website called Free Journalists' Club, as well as articles critical of the government on their own blogs.
Fearful The state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper reported that Le Quoc Quan was being held for alleged tax evasion.
He was treated in hospital in August after being beaten up by men he believed were state agents.
The dissident was so fearful of being assaulted again since the August incident that had reportedly begun carrying a golf club for self-defence.
Le Quoc Quan was detained in 2007 for three months on his return from an American government-funded fellowship in Washington.
He writes a popular blog exposing human rights abuses and other issues not covered by the state media.
In an interview with the Associated Press news agency in September, he said that he and his family and staff had received frequent warnings from the authorities.
But he pledged to carry on speaking out against the government and in support of multi-party democracy and freedom of speech.