Hanoi urged to bring back exile

Thu, 01 Oct 1998, 00:00 WIB | Source: AFP

HANOI (AFP): The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) said on
Wednesday it had sent a letter to Vietnamese President Tran Duc
Luong urging him to allow exiled journalist Doan Viet Hoat to
return home.

"Sending a critic into exile may silence the messenger but
will not silence the message," WAN said in the letter to Luong,
according to a press release from its Paris headquarters.

"The place of Doan Viet Hoat and others who are expelled for
articulating their opinions will be taken up by other brave men
and women," the letter said.

Hoat, a journalist and writer who was imprisoned for more than
20 years, was released on Sept. 1 as part of a mass amnesty
granted by Luong, in which nearly 5,200 prisoners were granted
freedom.

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