Court upholds jail term for ‘ Mother Mushroom’
Hanoi, Nov. 30: A Vietnamese court on Thursday rejected the appeal of prominent blogger known as “Mother Mushroom” who is serving a 10- year sentence for anti- state propaganda, days after one of her lawyers was disbarred in a case that has drawn global ire.
Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh was sentenced to a decade in jail in June, a heavy term decried by rights groups that accuse the communist government of waging a harsh crackdown against critics this year.
Her appeal was denied by a court in the southern city of Nha Trang, her lawyer Ha Huy Son said, at a heavily- guarded trial closed to foreign media.
“The sentence is very unfair and biased. They argued that Quynh confessed her wrongdoings, but I think it's groundless and not in accordance with the law,” Son told AFP after the half- day trial.
Quynh, 38, whose pen name “Me Nam” derives from her daughter's nickname “mushroom”, was jailed in October 2016 as she was visiting a fellow activist in prison.
She was convicted for anti- state propaganda, which carries a maximum sentence of 12 years in prison.
Quynh wrote posts critical of the government on the environment, politics and deaths in police custody -- a sensitive topic in the one- party state where independent media is banned.
In court Thursday, ' Me Nam' defended her legal right to free expression and said she did not break the law, Son said.
A few days before her appeal, Vo An Don, one of her lawyers, was disbarred in a move he said was politically motivated.
“The main reason was that I had participated in defending the rights of several poor people and prisoners of conscience. The authorities might have hated me for that,” Don said.