An American arrested during a demonstration in Vietnam must be deported

HONG KONG – An American graduate student who was arrested at a protest in Vietnam last month will be released and deported, a court announced Friday, shortly after the man was tried for disruption of public order.

Will Nguyen, who had participated in demonstrations against proposed special economic zones, feared that the Chinese would control the Vietnamese territory.

Nguyen, a Yale graduate from Houston, had faced a prison term of up to seven years.

A court in Ho Chi Minh City ruled that Mr. Nguyen was a foreigner and expressed his regret for his actions. immediately expelled, according to Vietnamese state media reports.

"Will is free!" Victoria Nguyen, the sister of Mr. Nguyen, said in a Twitter post . She had organized a campaign to demand his release.

Nguyen, whose family fled South Vietnam in the 1970s, was visiting Ho Chi Minh City before landing his master's degree at the University of Singapore. He published photos of the social media events and expressed his pride for the peaceful protests.

"I can not stress the magnitude of this success" for the Vietnamese people, he wrote on Twitter

. Mr. Nguyen had asked the police to move vehicles blocking the protesters' pbadage, and when they refused, he mounted a vehicle and pushed the crowd.

Demonstrations have also been reported in Hanoi, the capital; in the coastal city of Nha Trang; and in the southeastern province of Binh Thuan, where more than 100 people were arrested after protesters burned public buildings.

Special economic zones opposed by protesters would offer leases of up to 99 years to foreign investors. Many protesters feared that Chinese investors would dominate the areas, evoking a long-standing fear of Chinese encroachment in Vietnam. The protesters also said that they were unhappy with a cybersecurity bill.

Human rights groups said that protesters were badaulted by police officers sent to quell protests

His face while he was being dragged by a group of people. men, allegedly plainclothes police

Later, he was shown on Vietnamese public television saying he regretted breaking the law and that he no longer wanted to join to such activities. "We are delighted that William Nguyen has been reunited and is returning home with his family," said Francisco Bencosme, Advocacy Manager for the Asia Pacific Region of Amnesty International in the United States, in a statement. "However, we do not believe that he should have been detained in the first place to express himself freely."

"This joke trial underscores the heinous record of human rights in Vietnam where people are often detained, arrested and in some cases tortured. "State Secretary Mike Pompeo raised Mr. Nguyen's arrest with Vietnamese leaders while he was visiting the country. at the beginning of the month and "encouraged a quick resolution of her case," said state department spokeswoman Heather Nauert

.A group of 19 senators and congressmen sent a letter Wednesday to Mr. Pompeo to urge him to "use all diplomatic means at your disposal to ensure the safe return of Mr. Nguyen to the United States."

He traveled to Ho Chi Minh City for the trial, and her mother was able to visit her in custody on July 17, said Nguyen. [19659002] "He was very happy to see her, and my mother said that she was He claimed that he was mentally and physically stable," she wrote in an email before the trial [19659018]. [ad_2]
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