On November 15, 2019, Endangered Scholars Worldwide learned that Vietnamese University lecturer Pham Xuan Hao, 54, was convicted to 12 months in prison for “abusing democratic rights and freedoms to infringe upon state interests.”
Hao is an internationally renowned scholar and has spent most of his life working as a lecturer at the Technology Faculty of the University of Can Tho, one of the major universities in southern Vietnam.
According to the 88 Project, during the trial, the prosecutors argued that Hao used Facebook to “publish pessimistic information about Vietnam that negatively affects netizens and the public.” The judges also asserted that he has tried to libel the policies of the Party and the State.
Since January 2019, there have been 21 people arrested for criticizing the government, 12 of which are the result of online activities. Hao is the 13th individual this year prosecuted for peaceful online political comments.
Endangered Scholars Worldwide deplores and condemns the detention of Xuan Hao and calls upon all international organizations, academic and professional associations, and other groups and individuals devoted to the promotion and defense of human rights to protest this arbitrary incarceration; to call for Hao’s immediate and unconditional release; and to urge the officials of the Vietnamese government to respect, guarantee, and implement the provisions and principles of human rights.