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Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, known by her online pseudonym, Me Nam – which translates as "Mother Mushroom" – landed Wednesday night in the United States, accompanied by her mother and two young children, according to American Karen Tang. spokesman of the Embassy.
A photo published online by the Committee for the Protection of Journalists appears to show Ms. Nguyen and her two young children on board a flight from Vietnam.
Nguyen, whose blog covered issues such as land confiscation, freedom of speech and police brutality, was released a year and a half after being sentenced to 10 years in prison for "anti-state propaganda" on Wednesday morning.
The blogger, famous for her slogan, "Who will speak if you do not do it?" was arrested by the Ministry of Public Security on October 10, 2016, according to the Vietnamese Public Press Agency (VNA), which described it in reports as "an anti-state instigator".
She was sentenced in June 2017.
In a statement made to CNN, US Embassy spokeswoman Karen Tang said the US government had always called for the release of Quynh and other people imprisoned in Vietnam for "the exercise." their human rights and fundamental freedoms ".
The United States will continue to call on the Vietnamese government to "immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience and to allow all Vietnamese citizens to express their political views without fear of reprisal".
"She should never have been imprisoned"
"This good news, which provides relief after two years of imprisonment, should also recall the deteriorating situation in Vietnam in terms of imprisoning critics of the regime," said Nicholas Bequelin, Regional Director. of Amnesty International for Southeast Asia and East. .
"Although Mother Champignon was no longer imprisoned, the condition of her release was exile and more than one hundred people were languishing in jail because they were peacefully expressing their opinions – in public, on blogs or on Facebook. "
In a tweet, CPJ, which awarded Nguyen its international press freedom award, said he also welcomed his release but added that his imprisonment was unfair.
"We are very happy that Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh is finally free, but we reaffirm that she should never have been imprisoned," reads the message, attributed to CPJ's Asia representative Shawn Crispin. Southeast.
"The authorities should follow suit by releasing all other journalists still illegally held behind bars in Vietnam."
Nguyen will receive the CPJ Award in New York next month.
Thorn alongside the government
Ms. Nguyen also drew the authorities' attention in 2009 to her harsh words against China's intervention in her country, including Beijing's funding of a controversial bauxite mine in the highlands. trays of the center of the country.
She received a Hellman / Hammett grant in 2010, which "recognizes courage in the face of political persecution," Human Rights Watch said.
In order to be released, she agreed to give up her blog by posting on her site a handwritten letter in which she explained that she liked her country, but that the government felt that it was not the right way to express it. Two months later, after being denied a passport, she decided to blog again.
"I'm writing another entry on my blog, which I've already abandoned, but they have not left me alone," she said. "I must take the right to say what I think."
CPJ says at least 10 journalists were jailed in Vietnam as of December 1, 2017. This figure includes Nguyen.
