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Human Rights Watch again failed to reflect VN’s situations

VNGOP – The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry Spokesman on February 1 rejected erroneous remarks contained in an annual report released by Human Rights Watch on January 31.

February 04, 2008 7:07 AM GMT+7

“It is regrettable that Human Rights Watch has once again delivered wrong information that failed to reflect the real situation in Việt Nam,” Spokesman Lê Dũng said when asked about the New York-based rights watchdog’s 2007 report.

He reiterated that the Vietnamese State always respects the rights to freedom and democracy of all citizens, including the right to freedom of speech.

“Like in other countries around the world, the State of Việt Nam does not accept the abuse of the rights to freedom and democracy to commit acts that violate the law,” the Spokesman stressed.

He affirmed that in Việt Nam, there is neither political crackdown nor any arrest on the grounds of political viewpoints or religions. Only those who break the law are dealt with in line with regulations of Vietnamese laws, Dũng said.

He went on to say that several people in Việt Nam had in the past time been charged for violating the Vietnamese State’s laws and policies, undermining security and social order and stability, and destroying national unity, not for dissenting from the official view.

“The strict punishment given to law violators is normal and in compliance with stipulations of Vietnamese laws,” the Spokesman concluded.