Vietnam arrests three foreigners on suspicion of participating in anti-regime group... Suspicion of kidnapping raised

When Vietnamese authorities arrested three people, including Australian and Norwegian nationals, who had participated in an anti-regime group, suspicions were raised that they had been kidnapped from abroad and taken to Vietnam.

According to AFP and Reuters on the 29th (local time), the previous day, Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security announced that it had arrested three people, including Nguyen Duc Thuan (52), Ho Pham Hiep Hui (51), and Thai Cong Truong Son (46), on terrorism charges.

They were caught while entering Vietnam from Cambodia on the 18th, and authorities said that Thuan had a Norwegian passport and two forged Vietnamese IDs, and Hui had an Australian passport.

The Ministry of Public Security said that they confessed to joining the anti-government group Viet Tan (Vietnam Reform Party), which is designated as a terrorist group by the Vietnamese government.

He also said that they admitted to possessing forged documents to illegally enter Vietnam to carry out terrorist and sabotage activities.

Authorities are currently conducting an investigation and will prosecute them in accordance with the law, he added. If found guilty of terrorism at trial, he could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.

However, the Viet Tan side based in the United States claimed that Thuan, a Norwegian citizen, and Hui, an Australian citizen, were kidnapped in Cambodia and taken to Vietnam.

Viet Tan said in a statement that the three people traveled from Bangkok, Thailand to Phnom Penh, Cambodia on the 15th to meet Vietnamese human rights activists, and disappeared on the 18th while traveling to Koh An That district in Ta Kaeo Province, southern Cambodia, near the border with Vietnam.

He also said that they had no intention of entering Vietnam and urged the Norwegian and Australian governments to meet Thuan and Hui in person and confirm their personal safety.

In relation to this, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government was communicating directly with Hui's family and providing consular support.

According to the international human rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW), more than 160 political prisoners are detained in Vietnam.

Previously, in 2023, HRW raised suspicions that Thai Van Duong, a Vietnamese anti-government blogger living in Thailand, was kidnapped by Vietnamese agents.

In 2018, the former head of a Vietnamese state-owned company wanted on charges of causing a large loss to the company was kidnapped in Germany by Vietnamese government agents, which turned into a diplomatic issue, with German prosecutors indicting those involved.