During the COVID-19 lockdowns in Vietnam last year, blogger Bui Van Thuan took to Facebook to criticize a government plan to use soldiers to deliver groceries to people confined to their homes in Ho Chi Minh City. Days later, he was arrested.
Thuan, 41, a former teacher in the country's northern province of Hoa Binh, was last month sentenced to eight years in prison for propaganda, and a further five years of probation.
Vietnamese authorities charged Thuan with "making, storing, disseminating or propagandizing information, materials and products that aim to oppose" the nation — a charge that is increasingly applied to online content as the state exerts greater control over the internet, human rights groups say.
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