Vietnam deports Australian for dissent

May 19, 2009

A Vietnamese-born Australian citizen expelled from Vietnam after being accused of terrorism was in fact arrested for taking pictures of protesting farmers, a Vietnamese exile group said on Tuesday.

The government-controlled Vietnam News reported that Nguyen Van Be, 57, was placed on a flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Australia on Monday.

The paper said police had arrested Be for photographing border posts between Vietnam and Cambodia plus the US Consulate, and accused him of setting up a network to smuggle weapons and political activists into Vietnam.

Be is a member of the Viet Tan (Reform) Party, a Vietnamese exile group that opposes the Vietnamese Communist Party’s monopoly on political power inside the country. The Vietnamese government considers Viet Tan a terrorist organisation, and police referred to Be as a terrorist.

But Duy Hoang, spokesman for the Viet Tan Party in Washington, DC, said Be and his wife had been visiting relatives in Vietnam. He said they were arrested because Be had taken photos of farmers demonstrating over land disputes outside the US Consulate.

"He and his wife were detained at the airport based on the photos in his digital camera," Hoang said. "They were interrogated and held separately for two weeks," before being released due to intervention by Australian officials.

The Vietnam News said Be arrived in Vietnam on April 25 and was arrested May 9. The Viet Tan Party says Be and his wife arrived April 9 and were preparing to board a plane for Australia on May 1 when they were arrested.

The Viet Tan Party says its goal is to promote peaceful political change in Vietnam. The US and other governments do not consider the party a terrorist organisation.