Vietnamese Authorities Arrest Facebook User After Questioning Ties to Targeted Organizations

(RFA): Authorities in Vietnam have arrested a Facebook user after questioning her ties to accounts run by members of two organizations targeted by authorities, according to her husband, amid a wider crackdown on critical content posted on the social media network.

Duong Thi Lanh, 36, was taken into custody on Jan. 30 after being summoned for questioning by police in central Vietnam’s Dak Nong province over her connection to Facebook accounts “Uyen Thuy” and “Mai Bui,” Lanh’s husband Tran Coi told RFA’s Vietnamese Service over the weekend.

Coi said Lanh was told to arrive at the Nhan Co communal building for interrogation at 2:00 p.m., and when she arrived “they arrested her immediately.”

“They drove her home to search our house and I asked them if they had a warrant, but they said that because my wife had been arrested, they were allowed to search,” he said.

“I asked for an arrest order and the reason for her arrest, and they said I had no business demanding them. They said I should ask my wife why she had been arrested.”

During the search, police confiscated three cellphones and military uniforms for soldiers from the Republic of Vietnam, which governed southern Vietnam during the Vietnam War, Coi said.

He said police informed him that Lanh will be held in detention for three months, without providing further details.

An officer who answered a call to the Dak Nong provincial police station told RFA that he was unaware of Lanh’s arrest.

On Jan. 27, Lanh told followers during a livestream she hosted on her Facebook account “SG Ngọc Lan” that she had joined thousands who took to the streets in rare demonstrations in several cities on June 10, 2018 to protest draft laws on Cybersecurity and government plans to grant long-term leases for foreign companies operating in special economic zones.