The communist country often announces special amnesties before important events. (EPA Images pic)
HANOI: Vietnam will free more than 8,000 prisoners, including foreigners, ahead of the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, according to a statement published on the government’s news portal on Tuesday.
The communist country often announces special amnesties before important events. It has freed nearly 100,000 prisoners ahead of their expected release dates since 2009, although political activists have never been included.
Those convicted of “attempting to overthrow” the communist government or “terrorism” are not eligible for release, according to Vietnamese law.
The detainees will be released from Thursday and will include 25 foreigners of nine different nationalities, the government’s news portal said, without specifying the countries.
“The amnesty conveys the generosity and humane tradition of the Vietnamese nation and the lenient policy of the party and state of Vietnam,” deputy chairperson of the president’s office Pham Thanh Ha said, according to the statement.
More than 197,000 prisoners were serving terms in jails across Vietnam at the end of January, the ministry of public security said last month.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) says more than 160 political prisoners are behind bars in Vietnam, a one-party state.
According to a HRW report released last week, Vietnam has begun targeting ordinary social media users – those without any sizeable public profile – for posts criticising the state in an expanding crackdown on dissent.
At least 124 people were given harsh prison terms between 2018 and Feb 2025 after they were charged under article 331 of the penal code, which centres on the “infringement of state interests”, HRW said.
Vietnam will celebrate, on Wednesday, the 50th anniversary of the defeat of the US-backed South by the communists of North Vietnam on April 30, 1975. A grand celebration will take place in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon.
