Vietnam to deport American protester
American citizenWilliam HONGKONG — Nguyen will be deported from Vietnam, a court in the country’s largest city ruled Friday, after detaining and convicting him for his participation in a protest last month.
Nguyen, a 32-year old Houston native of Vietnamese descent, was arrested by plainclothes police during protests in Ho Chi Minh City against a proposed law on special economic zones that many fearwould benefit Chinese investors.
In a one-day trial Friday, the court convicted him of “disturbing public order” during the protest. But the court believed he admitted to wrongdoing and showed remorse, and therefore handed downthe lowest sentence possible, without any prison time.
Nguyen “has been sentenced to expulsion and forced to leave Vietnam immediately ,” TrinhVinhPhuc, one of Nguyen’s lawyers, said in a statement on his Facebook page. Nguyen was facing up to seven years in prison.
Nguyen’s mother fled Saigon four years after Vietnamese communist forces captured the city in 1975 and settled in Houston, his sister Victoria Nguyen said in a previous interview with TheWashington Post. Their fraught familyhistory inspired William Nguyen to studyVietnam at Yale University and to visit the country numerous times.
He stopped inHo Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, in June on his way to the National University of Singapore for his graduation from a master’s degree program next month, his sister said, and he joined the protests to be a part of raremoment of public assembly.
Francisco Bencosme, Asia Pacific advocacy manager for Amnesty International, said hewas pleased Nguyen “will be reunited with his family” but noted he should not have been detained and charged in the first place for “freely expressing himself.”
“This case shows the United States has leverage on Vietnam human rights issues if it chooses to use it,” Bencosme said.
In Hanoi this month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo raised the issue of Nguyen’s detention with senior Vietnamese officials, according to the department’s spokeswoman.
Despite Friday’s ruling, rights activists have pointed out that six people have been sentenced to up to two and a half years in prison for their participation in the protest, and others are awaiting trial.
“This is a stark reminder to the American people that in the past year Vietnam has intensified its crackdown on real or perceived dissidents while this administration continues to deepen economic and security engagement,” Bencosme said.