Facebook user jailed in Vietnam for anti-state posts

A Vietnamese court has sentenced a man to prison after he was found guilty of sharing anti-state posts on Facebook, Reuters reported.

Vietnam’s state news agency reported that Nguyen Tri Gioan, an aquaculture farmer, was convicted of “making, storing, spreading information, materials, items for the purpose of opposing the state” during a one-day trial in the central province of Khanh Hoa.

The Communist Party of Vietnam retains tight censorship on the media, tolerating little to no criticism. The government’s stance on media censorship comes despite sweeping economic reform and calls for social change in the county. 

Gioan was accused of posting poems and images on his Facebook page that “slander, distort, defame” the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam and its former leader Ho Chi Minh, according to the indictment report.  

Gioan, 42, is expected to serve a seven-year prison sentence, Reuters noted. 

Following his release from prison, Gioan will be placed on house arrest for three years, according to the indictment report. 

The Hill has reached out to Facebook for comment.