Vietnam News Update

The UN Offers Protection to 75 Central Highlanders in Cambodia
Phnom Penh (AsiaNews/Agencies) - The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has taken 75 Vietnamese Central Highlanders seeking asylum into its care in Cambodia. UNHCR spokeswoman Deborah Backus says the asylum seekers are at a site in north eastern Ratanakkiri province under the agency's protection.
Read the whole article at http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=5171(Jan 20, 2006)

Vietnamese Released from Prison but Fears for his Life
Hanoi (Deutsche Presse-Agentur) - Nguyen Khac Toan, 50, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2002 on espionage charges after he posted articles on the internet about public protests against the government seizing land for development.
He was released on Tuesday as part of a Tet lunar New Year amnesty, but said he is now under house surveillance for the next three years.
Toan described his two years in prison as "like hell" and said he was kept in solitary confinement with no light for three months. He said he was once chained to a wall for a week and not allowed to bathe.
"Being under house surveillance is in some ways worse that prison” Toan said. "Now, I don't know if an out-of-nowhere 'accident' might kill me," he added.
International human rights groups this week applauded the release of Toan, but said Vietnam's continued detention of other government critics show its policy is still to limit freedom of speech.
Read the article at Vietnam Colloquium (subscription service)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vncol/ (Jan. 27, 2006)