On August 30, 2024, Vietnamese aquatic engineer Nguyen Ngoc Anh was released from Xuan Loc Prison after serving a six-year sentence for peacefully criticizing government policies related to the environment, socio-economic issues, and human rights.

Mr. Anh was taken into custody in late August 2018, without an arrest warrant, and subsequently charged with “making, storing, disseminating, and propagating information and documents aimed at opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.” In June 2019, following an unjust trial, he was sentenced to six years in prison to be followed by five years’ probation. He was deprived of legal counsel throughout the investigation of his case, his trial was effectively closed, and the proceedings were summary, lasting only one day.

In the months leading up to his arrest, Mr. Anh had posted a number of articles, videos, and messages on Facebook speaking out about a range of issues. In his social media posts, he raised concerns about the environment—including a large-scale leak of toxic industrial waste into the sea two years prior, which resulted in a marine disaster along the coast of Vietnam—proposed draft legislation on the creation of three special economic zones in the country, and human rights. In late 2022, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) found Mr. Anh’s detention arbitrary, in contravention of his fundamental rights to freedom of expression and due process, and called on the government to take urgent action to ensure his immediate and unconditional release and to bring to justice those responsible for the violation of his rights.

While in prison, Mr. Anh was subjected to severe physical and mental abuse, including repeated death threats and beatings, and was held under abysmal conditions as a result of which his health significantly declined.