Activist will be deported

HANOI (Reuters) — An American-Vietnamese political activist was sentenced to six months jail in a one-day trial, but he will be deported by the weekend as he had already served the time, U.S. Embassy officials and his political reform party said yesterday.

Nguyen Quoc Quan, 54, an engineer from Sacramento, Calif., was arrested in November along with several other activists of the Viet Tan (Vietnam Reform Party), who were preparing to distribute leaflets opposed to the nation’s one-party rule.

In yesterday’s trial in Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court, Mr. Quan and a Thai citizen and one Vietnamese national were charged with “terrorism.”

The Hanoi government describes Viet Tan as a terrorist group, but the party says it does not support the use of violence. It said that pamphlets seized by police at the time of the arrests in November promoted peaceful democratic change.

“We are not aware of any information that would support charges of ’terrorism.’ We object to the detention and prosecution of any individual for peacefully expressing his or her own views,” a U.S. Embassy spokeswoman in Hanoi said.

Thai citizen Somsak Khunmi was sentenced to nine months and will be released in three months, said the U.S.-based Viet Tan, which is outlawed in Vietnam. It said Nguyen The Vu was sentenced to time served and was to be released yesterday.

Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party rejects calls for a multi-party system and last year arrested more than 30 political activists, diplomats and human rights activists.

Some were put on trial for “spreading propaganda against the state,” a criminal offence in Vietnam, and handed prison sentences of between three years and eight years.