Vietnam arrests journalist Le Anh Hung on ‘propaganda’ charge

Bangkok, March 13, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Vietnamese authorities to immediately and unconditionally release journalist Le Anh Hung and cease harassing independent commentators for expressing critical views online.

On March 9, police arrested Hung at a friend’s house in central Dak Lak province, according to news reports and information compiled by Project 88, an independent rights group that monitors the status of Vietnamese political prisoners.

The journalist has been charged under Article 117 of the penal code, which criminalizes “propagandizing against the state” and carries penalties of up to 20 years in prison, the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.

“Vietnamese authorities must release Le Anh Hung immediately and drop all charges against him,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Le Anh Hung never should have been imprisoned the first time, and detaining and charging him again is a gross affront to press freedom.”

Hung contributes to various independent outlets, including Thien Dan, and posts to his own blog. He also writes books, including the self-published “Power and the Control of Power in Societies.”

Hung, a former contributor to the U.S. Congress-funded Voice of America (VOA), was arrested in 2018 and held alternately in prison and a psychiatric hospital until his 2022 conviction under Article 331, which criminalizes the abuse of “democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State.” 

He was released on July 5, 2023, after serving a five-year sentence under abusive conditions, according to VOA reports and the journalist’s email communications with CPJ. Radio Free Asia reported that Hung had been beaten with a metal chair, tied to a bed and forcibly injected with unspecified drugs by a nurse at a Hanoi mental hospital. 

Hung is a member of the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam, a local group that works outside the state-dominated media. Several of its members, including founder Pham Chi Dung, have been convicted and sentenced to harsh jail terms.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security did not immediately reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.

Vietnam is among the world’s worst jailers of journalists, with 17 behind bars, according to CPJ data.