Vietnamese blogger: I'm not alone advocating freedom
HOUSTON — A prominent blogger freed from prison in Vietnam on condition that she live in exile in the United States says she is glad to be reunited with her family and that she knows she is not alone in advocating for freedom.
Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh was smiling when she emerged from the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston on Wednesday night to be greeted by a crowd, many of them Vietnamese Americans. Her two young children and her mother travelled with her.
Quynh blogged as "Mother Mushroom" about human rights and industrial pollution. She was arrested in Ho Chi Minh City in 2016 and sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of defaming Vietnam's Communist government — a conviction that drew criticism from some governments and human rights groups.
Speaking to reporters upon her arrival, Quynh said that even though she had prepared herself for seeing her family again, she was overwhelmed.
"I was shocked when my son and my daughter hugged me on the plane," Quynh said. "We had to wait (for this moment) for two years."
Quynh could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday.
Quynh said she knows she is not alone and that she and others will still speak up for freedom in her native country.
Vietnam has stepped up a crackdown on dissent over the past two years with scores of activists and bloggers jailed for national securityrelated offenses.