jailed American plotted to 'destroy' US consulate

Deutsche Presse Agentur
Published: Wednesday September 20, 2006

Hanoi- Vietnamese state-run media on Wednesday accused a jailed American democracy activist of plotting a terrorist attack on the US consulate in Ho Chi Minh City. The US ambassador to Vietnam has previously dismissed such allegations against activist Cong Thanh Do and called for his release.

Vietnamese-born Do, who moved to the US more than 20 years ago and is a US citizen, has been held for more than a month in Ho Chi Minh City since being arrested while visiting family members.

Vietnam's government had previously refused to say what law he is accused of breaking.

Wednesday, the state Vietnam News Agency published an article saying Do was planning "a terrorist plot to destroy the US General Consulate."

A spokeswoman for the US embassy in Hanoi said Wednesday that US officials had not received any new information from the Vietnamese side.

The VNA article suggested that Do was planning an attack as revenge for the arrest earlier this year in South Korea of Nguyen Huu Chanh, a US-based anti-communist whose followers have been charged with several bombing attempts on Vietnamese embassies abroad.

However, human rights groups say the terrorism charges are trumped up and Do was jailed for advising the country's newly revitalized dissident movement.

Reporters San Frontieres, a Paris-based press freedom group, scoffed at any suggestion that Do - who was known on-line under the pen name Nam Tran - would seek to attack his adopted country.

Nam Tran's internet writings always advocated peaceful change and called for Vietnam to hold democratic multi-party elections, according to Julien Pain, head of RSF's internet freedom desk.

"It doesn't make sense to me," Pain said. "Why would a person with these kind of opinions bomb the embassy of a democratic country - the country where by the way he chose to live and apply for citizenship?"

Do's family also denies that he has any connection to Nguyen Huu Chanh, a Vietnamese exile who has in the past publicly advocated violence against the communist regime. Chanh was arrested in Seoul earlier this year but was released in July after South Korea ruled Vietnam's charges were politically based.

Earlier this month, US Ambassador Michael Marine told reporters that Vietnamese police had shown no convincing evidence that Do was plotting against US interests in Vietnam.

"We've seen no evidence that would support that. So, I believe that that is incorrect."

Marine said he hopes a Vietnamese investigation into Do's activities would be complete soon "so that he can hopefully be set free and be allowed to return home to the United States."

© 2006 DPA - Deutsche Presse-Agenteur