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Journalist Group Calls for Release of Vietnamese Dissident

The man, a doctor, distributed an article about democracy that was obtained from a Web site operated by the U.S. Department of State.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- A Vietnamese doctor who was arrested for distributing an article about democracy from a U.S. State Department Internet site should be released immediately, a press watchdog group said in a letter to Vietnam's president.

Pham Hong Son was arrested in late March, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said in the letter seen Tuesday in Hanoi. He is the third person detained since February for distributing materials on the Internet deemed objectionable by Vietnam's Communist government, it said.

Asked about Son's arrest, Vietnam's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying his work was "anti-state and anti-Vietnam Communist Party."

Son had contacted the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi to seek permission to translate the article titled "What is Democracy?" originally issued during the collapse of communist governments in Eastern Europe.

Vietnam's constitution provides for freedom of speech and the press, but in practice both are significantly restricted. The government controls all media outlets, and Internet sites deemed politically or culturally inappropriate are blocked by the country's government-owned Internet portal.

The committee, which is a non-profit group, also called for the release of Le Chi Quang, a computer-science lecturer, arrested in February after circulating an essay on the Internet critical of a border agreement with China.

The committee also urged an end to persecution of dissident writer Tran Khue, who has reportedly been under tight house arrest in Ho Chi Minh City since March, after he wrote an open letter to Chinese President Jiang Zemin protesting the treaty as unfair to Vietnam.

In its letter to President Tran Duc Luong, dated Monday, the committee urged him "to ensure that all people in Vietnam are able to express themselves in public media without fear of reprisal."

A Paris-based media watchdog group, Reporters Without Borders, has also called for the release of the three men.

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