A Vietnamese couple has been sentenced to prison for postings on Facebook about a deadly land dispute.
Two activists who posted on Facebook about a land dispute clash that left four people dead on the outskirts of Vietnam’s capital last year were sentenced to prison by a Hanoi court on Wednesday.
The Vietnamese government has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to social media criticism.
For “creating, storing, disseminating, or spreading material and documents aimed at resisting the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,” Trinh Ba Phuong received a ten-year term while Nguyen Thi Tam received a six-year prison.
In January 2020, three police officers and a local were killed in a battle in Dong Tam commune after officials attempted to install a fence and were stopped by villagers armed with “grenades, petrol bombs, and knives.”
Villagers had been fighting plans by the military to establish an airport on their property.
According to the state-run Vietnam News Agency, Phuong and Tam’s post “distorted and falsified the circumstances taking place in Dong Tam commune, defamed the people’s government, and incited people to fight the authorities.”
In May, Phuong’s mother and younger brother were both sentenced to eight years in prison for writing about the incident online.
Their legal case is set to be heard later this month.
A Hanoi court condemned two individuals to death for the murder of the three police officers in September of last year, while 27 others were convicted in the case.
In Vietnam, where powerful individuals and companies frequently make property claims, land disputes are prevalent.
The sentencing of Phuong and Tam came just one day after a prominent dissident journalist was sentenced to nine years in prison.
The United States and the United Kingdom have both denounced Pham Doan Trang’s conviction and demanded for her release. Pham Doan Trang is an advocate for press freedom and civil rights.
“The US urges the Vietnamese government immediately release Trang… and to allow all Vietnamese citizens to openly voice their opinions without fear of punishment,” said US State Department spokesman Ned Price.
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