HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A court in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City has begun the trial of 12 people, including two American citizens, on subversion charges as government authorities step up a crackdown on dissent.

The official Vietnam News Agency said the defendants are accused of attempting to overthrow the government by recruiting members for a U.S.-based exile group called the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam and by engaging in anti-state activities.

The news agency said two Vietnam-born American citizens are accused of ordering other members of the group to distribute anti-state leaflets, take over state radio stations to broadcast anti-government messages, and participate in anti-government protests. It said most of the plans were thwarted.

The trial is scheduled to last three days. </s> HANOI, Vietnam — A court in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday began the trial of 12 people, including two American citizens, on subversion charges as government authorities step up a crackdown on dissent.

The official Vietnam News Agency said the defendants are accused of attempting to overthrow the government by recruiting members for a U.S.-based exile group called the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam and by engaging in anti-state activities.

The news agency said two Vietnam-born American citizens are accused of ordering other members of the group to distribute anti-state leaflets, take over state radio stations to broadcast anti-government messages, and participate in anti-government protests. It said most of the plans were thwarted.

The trial is scheduled to last three days.

In January, the Ministry of Public Security declared the California-based group a terrorist organization, a month after 15 alleged members were convicted in a failed bombing at the country's largest airport.

The attempted attack at the Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City in April last year caused a scare but no casualties.

Last week a court in central Vietnam sentenced an activist to 20 years in prison after finding him guilty of attempting to overthrow the government.

Despite sweeping economic reforms over the past 30 years that opened the country to foreign trade and investment and made Vietnam one of the world's fastest growing economies, the government tolerates no challenge to its one-party rule.

Amnesty International says 97 people are serving prison sentences for violating national security laws, while Human Rights Watch counts 119. </s> A court in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday began the trial of 12 people, including two American citizens, on subversion charges as government authorities step up a crackdown on dissent.

The defendants are accused of attempting to overthrow the government by recruiting members for a U.S.-based exile group called the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam and by engaging in anti-state activities, the official Vietnam News Agency said.

Vietnam’s government has labeled the little-known group a terrorist organization.

The news agency said two Vietnam-born American citizens are accused of ordering other members of the group to distribute anti-state leaflets, take over state radio stations to broadcast anti-government messages, and participate in anti-government protests. It said most of the plans were thwarted.

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The news agency identified the Americans as Han James Nguyen and Angle Phan. It did not provide their hometowns.

The trial is scheduled to last three days.

“We are taking all appropriate actions to ensure Mr. Nguyen’s welfare and to encourage an expeditious resolution to his case. Due to privacy concerns, we are unable to comment on any other case,” a U.S. State Department official said in a statement.

In January, Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security declared the California-based group a terrorist organization, a month after 15 alleged members were convicted in a failed bombing at the country’s largest airport.

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The attempted attack at the Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City in April 2017 caused a scare but no casualties.

Last week a court in central Vietnam sentenced an activist to 20 years in prison after finding him guilty of attempting to overthrow the government.

Despite sweeping economic reforms over the last 30 years that opened the country to foreign trade and investment and made Vietnam one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, the government tolerates no challenge to its one-party rule.

Amnesty International says 97 people are serving prison sentences for violating national security laws, while Human Rights Watch counts 119. </s> HANOI, Vietnam — A court in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City sentenced two Americans of Vietnamese descent to 14 years in jail on Wednesday after finding them guilty of attempting to overthrow the government, state media reported.

James Nguyen and Angle Phan, alleged members of the California-based Provisional Central Government of Vietnam, were convicted of assigning group members to distribute anti-state leaflets, take over radio stations to broadcast anti-government messages and participate in anti-state protests, the official Vietnam News Agency said.

Ten local members of the group were convicted on the same charges in the two-day trial and sentenced to between five and 11 years in prison, it said.

The two American citizens will be deported after serving their sentences, it said.

“The defendants’ acts are particularly serious, violating national security, sabotaging the country’s stability and development, causing instability in political and social order and going against the interests of the state,” the agency quoted the judges as saying.

Court officials were not available for comment Wednesday.

“We will continue to monitor Mr. Nguyen’s welfare, advocate for him and provide consular services until his release,” U.S. Embassy spokesman Pope Thrower said in a statement.

In January, the Ministry of Public Security declared the little-known group a terrorist organization, a month after 15 of its local members were convicted and sentenced up to 16 years in prison for an alleged failed bombing at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City.

Despite sweeping economic reforms since the mid-1980s that opened the country to foreign trade and investment and made the country one of fastest growing economies in the world, the Communist government tolerates no challenge to its one-party rule.

Some Western governments and international human rights groups have criticized Vietnam for jailing people for peacefully expressing their views. The Vietnamese government says only law breakers are put behind bars. </s> Vietnamese court sentences 2 US citizens to 14 years in jail

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A court in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City has sentenced two Americans of Vietnamese descent to 14 years in jail after finding them guilty of attempting to overthrow the government, state media reported.

The official Vietnam News Agency says James Nguyen and Angle Phan, alleged members of the California-based Provisional Central Government of Vietnam, were convicted on Wednesday of assigning group members to distribute anti-state leaflets, take over radio stations to broadcast anti-government messages and participate in anti-state protests.

It says 10 local members of the group were convicted of the same charges in the two-day trial and sentenced to between five and 11 years in prison.

The two American citizens are to be deported after serving their sentences. </s> HANOI (Reuters) - A Vietnamese court found two Vietnamese-Americans guilty of terrorism on Wednesday and sentenced them to 14 years in prison for masterminding a series of bomb plots earlier this year, a court official told Reuters.

James Nguyen and Angel Phan were convicted, along with 10 accomplices who received short jail terms, after a two day trial. All defendants had been charged with “attempting to overthrow the state”.

Phan and Nguyen had been accused of organising at least three attacks, including the attempted bombing of Vietnam’s largest international airport in Ho Chi Minh City last April, and the successful bombing of a police station in June this year.

“The remaining 10 defendants in the same trial received prison terms of between five and 11 years,” an official at the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court told Reuters by phone.

According to state media, Phan and Nguyen were acting on behalf of the “Provisional Government of Vietnam”, a California-based organisation run by Vietnamese-Americans still loyal to the now defunct state of South Vietnam.

The U.S. organisation, which was listed as a “terrorist” group by Hanoi in January this year, dispatched Phan and Nguyen to Vietnam in February 2017 to carry out attacks on Vietnamese national holidays, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement on its website.

Phan and Nguyen ran a network of underground operatives in Vietnam, some of whom were given titles in a shadow government such as “governor of Saigon”, or “commander of national defence guards,” the Ministry of Public Security said on Wednesday.

The pair assigned “counter-revolutionary” missions to the group’s members in Vietnam, the ministry said, including a plan to broadcast anti-government propaganda from local radio stations, organise protests, and “insult the image” of former president Ho Chi Minh.

Phan and Nguyen will be deported after serving their jail term, Voice of Vietnam radio reported.

In June, a court in Ho Chi Minh City upheld prison sentences against 15 members of the group it said were guilty of planting bombs in the international terminal of Tan Son Nhat airport in April last year.

Last month, police said it had arrested seven people from the group over the bombing of a Ho Chi Minh City police station.

The incident, in which two small explosive devices were detonated, injured three people in what police said was a “terrorist case against the people’s government”.

A police warehouse, where confiscated vehicles, mostly motorbikes, were stored, was also blown up.

The Provisional Government of Vietnam did not respond to a request for comment made via its website.

The U.S. Embassy in Hanoi was not able to provide immediate comment. </s> Vietnam Wednesday jailed two American citizens and 10 others from an outlawed US-based "terrorist" group for attempting to overthrow the state after they spread anti-government leaflets and tried to incite protests last year.

Critics of the communist regime are routinely jailed in the one-party state. Most are loosely-linked bloggers, activists and rights lawyers, with few groups designated as "terrorist organisations".

One of those groups is the California-based Provisional National Government of Vietnam (PNGV), an anti-communist organisation with its own self-appointed prime minister that pledges allegiance to the former South Vietnam regime.

Twelve of their members were jailed for between five and 14 years after a two-day trial in Ho Chi Minh City for "attempting to overthrow the state", according to Phap Luat newspaper, the mouthpiece of the city's justice department.

They were accused of printing 4,000 leaflets, plotting to take over national radio and calling for demonstrations on April 30 last year -- celebrated as "reunification day" to mark the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.

The group included two American citizens, Phan Angel and Nguyen James Han, who allegedly travelled to Vietnam from the United States to help the failed plot, state media reported.

They were the only two to receive the harshest sentences of 14 years in prison and will be deported after serving their sentences.

"The defendants' behaviour was extremely serious, violating national security, undermining the country's stability and development (and) causing political and social disorder," the official Vietnam News Agency quoted the court decision as saying.

US embassy spokesman Pope Thrower said the safety of American citizens was a top priority.

"We will continue to monitor Mr Nguyen's welfare, advocate for him and provide consular services until his release," Thrower said in a statement. The embassy was not authorised to speak about Phan.

The foiled plan was allegedly set to coincide with a failed attack on Ho Chi Minh City's Tan Son Nhat international airport last year, for which 15 PNGV members were convicted.

The group was also accused of bombing a police station in the city in June and injuring three people.

The PNGV was established in 1990 in California, where large numbers of Vietnamese refugees settled after the end of the war.

Its members, many who wear the yellow-and-red-striped southern flag of the former Saigon regime, say their aim is to "liberate Vietnam from communism".

Hanoi and Washington now enjoy close ties, although a number of incidents involving US citizens in Vietnam this year have created a diplomatic headache between the former foes.

Michael Nguyen, a California-based father of four is in custody for "attempting to overthrow the state", while American student Will Nguyen was convicted and deported last month for disturbing public order after joining protests in Ho Chi Minh City. </s> A court in Hanoi opened trial Thursday of six activists accused of attempting to overthrow the government as communist authorities stepped up their crackdown on dissent.

Prominent human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai and five others are accused of affiliating with a pro-democracy group called the Brotherhood for Democracy, which prosecutors say works with foreign and domestic organisations to oppose the state, change the political system and eventually overthrow the government.

The six face the death penalty if convicted.

“The defendants have taken advantage of the fight for ‘democracy, human rights, civil society’ to conceal the … purpose of ‘the Brotherhood for Democracy,’” the official Vietnam News Agency quoted the indictment as saying.

Prosecutors determined that Dai was the mastermind behind the group, directly building its platform, recruiting new members and seeking finance from foreign organisations and individuals, which totalled more than US$80,000, it said.

International human rights groups have called for their release.

“Vietnam is one of Southeast Asia’s most prolific jailers of peaceful activists – a shameful title no one should aspire to,” James Gomez, Amnesty International’s director of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said in statement.

He said that 97 prisoners of conscience “that we are aware of in the country are all brave women and men who have been robbed of their freedom for nothing but promoting human rights.”

Human Rights Watch put the number of people jailed for violating national security laws at 119.

Hanoi says there are no political prisoners in Vietnam and only law breakers are put behind bars.

Dai, a co-founder of the group, and another member were arrested in December 2015, initially accused of spreading anti-government propaganda while four other members were detained last July.

Dai and four others had previously been jailed for violating national security laws.

In 2007, Dai was sentenced to five years in prison for spreading propaganda against the government but got his jail term reduced to four years on appeals. His lawyer’s license was revoked.

Foreign press and diplomats were barred from the trial, which was expected to last two days.

A group of about a dozen supporters were blocked by uniformed and plain clothes police morning as they marched toward the courthouse in central Hanoi. </s> A court in Hanoi has handed down harsh sentences against six activists after convicting them of attempting to overthrow Vietnam's government.

Nguyen Van Mieng, the lawyer for prominent human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai said he was sentenced to 15 years in prison and five years of house arrest while his fellow activists received sentences from seven to 12 years at the one-day trial Thursday.

They were charged with affiliating with a pro-democracy group called Brotherhood for Democracy, whose purpose was to change the leadership of the Communist Party and build a multi-party system.

A State Department spokeswoman says the United States is deeply troubled with the sentencing and calls for release of all prisoners of conscience immediately. </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption Lawyer Nguyen Van Dai, 48, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison

Six prominent Vietnamese activists have received heavy prison sentences on charges of "attempting to overthrow" the country's communist government.

Lawyer Nguyen Van Dai was sentenced to 15 years, while the other defendants were jailed for between seven and 12 years, relatives said on Thursday.

Several protesters who marched towards the court in Hanoi were taken away by plainclothes police.

Human rights groups have criticised the charges against the activists.

The convicted individuals are linked to the Brotherhood for Democracy, a self-described activist network.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Demonstrators holding placards marched towards the courthouse in Hanoi

In December 2015, having already served a previous four-year prison sentence, Nguyen Van Dai was arrested along with his assistant.

Although they were initially charged with producing anti-state propaganda, they were later accused of attempting to overthrow the state. The other four activists were arrested in July.

Nguyen Van Dai's wife told BBC Vietnamese of her "surprise and resentment" at the verdict and said her husband had defended himself "vigorously".

"Their defence in court show they were patriotic and peaceful. If the trial had lasted for another day, I think the prosecutors would be unable to keep on debating," Vu Minh Khanh said.

The court "had no evidence but they still tried to charge the defendants with crimes", she said.

"We were outraged. We the relatives cried after the trial ended and shouted it was an unfair trial."

The case has received widespread attention in Vietnam, which has strict censorship rules.

In a report released earlier this week, human rights campaign group Amnesty International described Hanoi as "one of South East Asia's most prolific jailers of peaceful activists", and said that at least 97 political prisoners were currently serving jail sentences across the country.

In January, three activists were sentenced to between six and eight years in prison for distributing propaganda against the state, while the popular environmental blogger known as Mother Mushroom was jailed on the same charges in 2017.
A court in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City begins the trial of twelve people, including two Vietnam-born Americans, on charges of attempting to overthrow the government.