Home 5 News 5 IPA condemns sentence given to Vietnamese publisher

IPA condemns sentence given to Vietnamese publisher

by | Dec 15, 2021 | News

The International Publishers Association (IPA) has condemned the nine-year sentence given to Vietnamese author and publisher Pham Doan Trang for disseminating anti-state propaganda.

José Borghino, IPA Secretary General, said: “All publicly available information about this case, the charges and the process make it impossible to see this as anything but a show trial. The International Publishers Association commends Pham Doan Trang for her bravery in the face of this persecution which can only be intended to intimidate others into silence.”

In a powerful statement given to her family before her trial, Trang said: ‘In a democratic society, if a citizen writes something or responds to interview questions from foreign journalists regarding matters the government doesn’t want to hear, what would be the civilized response? The most civilized response would be for the government to do nothing because a civilized person knows how to respect the opinions and interests of others.

‘In a less fortunate situation, if a government has authoritarian tendencies and finds what the citizen says unacceptable, then it could simply write books or articles to rebut that citizen, or even boldly reach out to the foreign press to arrange an interview in which a government representative expresses his/her viewpoint or responds to the citizen in-kind. But the Socialist Republic of Vietnam does none of this. Instead, it chooses to respond in a more vile, foolish, and heinous manner, imprisoning its citizens simply because they write works or respond to interviews with foreign journalists.’

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders have all spoken out about her detention.  Trang received  the 2020 IPA Prix Voltaire on behalf of Liberal Publishing House.  Not for the first time, the IPA’s stance puts some of its members in a difficult position.  The governments of China and Saudi Arabia have a similarly harsh and undemocratic response to dissent as that of Vietnam.  Their respective trade bodies who are full members of the IPA may distance themselves from the organisation’s overall stance on this particular issue.

Recent News

09Jul
Is The Salt Path Story as True as It Claims

Is The Salt Path Story as True as It Claims

The author of the best-selling memoir The Salt Path has been accused of stealing £64,000 before losing her home after she failed to pay off her debts, as well as fabricating or giving misleading information about some elements of her book. The 2018 book, and recent film adaptation, told the story of a couple who […]

08Jul
Bibliotheca Alexandrina Celebrates Knowledge

Bibliotheca Alexandrina Celebrates Knowledge

Amid a vibrant cultural atmosphere, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina inaugurated the 20th edition of its International Book Fair, which will run until 21 July 2025. This milestone edition sees broad participation from Egyptian and Arab publishing houses, organized in collaboration with the General Egyptian Book Organization and the Egyptian and Arab Publishers Association.   Marking two […]

08Jul
Boualem Sansal’s Sentence Causes Global Protest

Boualem Sansal’s Sentence Causes Global Protest

The International Publishers Association (IPA) has called the continuing detention of the Franco-Algerian author Boualem Sansal’s an “afront to freedom of expression”. This week a court in Algeria upheld Sansal’s five-year prison sentence.  The author was charged in March under Algeria’s anti-terrorism laws and convicted of “undermining national unity”. Kristenn Einarsson, Chair of the IPA’s […]

Related Posts

Bibliotheca Alexandrina Celebrates Knowledge

Bibliotheca Alexandrina Celebrates Knowledge

Amid a vibrant cultural atmosphere, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina inaugurated the 20th edition of its International Book Fair, which will run until 21 July 2025. This milestone edition sees broad participation from Egyptian and Arab publishing houses, organized in...

Boualem Sansal’s Sentence Causes Global Protest

Boualem Sansal’s Sentence Causes Global Protest

The International Publishers Association (IPA) has called the continuing detention of the Franco-Algerian author Boualem Sansal's an “afront to freedom of expression”. This week a court in Algeria upheld Sansal's five-year prison sentence.  The author was charged in...

New Era for Intellectual Property in UAE Academia

New Era for Intellectual Property in UAE Academia

Building on its growing international presence in intellectual property protection while reinforcing the UAE’s standing as a regional and international hub in this field, the Emirates Reprographic Rights Management Association (ERRA) has announced the signing of the...

Previous Next
Close
Test Caption
Test Description goes like this