Two journalists on trial for anti state charges

HANOI (AFP) - Vietnam put two young activists on trial Thursday for spreading anti-state propaganda, in a case rights groups criticised as part of the regime s efforts to silence its critics.

University student Nguyen Phuong Uyen, in her early 20s, and computer technician Dinh Nguyen Kha, 25, are accused of distributing anti-government leaflets, their lawyer Ha Huy Son said.

A verdict was expected later in the day, he told AFP from the court in the southern province of Long An.

The leaflets they allegedly distributed "humiliated the administration" and called for demonstrations against the regime, according to a copy of the indictment which was posted online.

The charges, which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail, are routinely laid against dissidents in authoritarian Vietnam, where the ruling Communist Party forbids all political debate.

AFP s request to attend the trial was turned down by Long An authorities.

Uyen -- whose plight has attracted strong online support from Vietnamese activists -- called for the charges against her to be dropped as she addressed the court.

"I am a patriotic student. If the court today charges me with a crime, all young people will be frightened," she said, according to an unofficial transcript posted online by activists.

Photographs and reports about the trial were widely shared on dissident blogs and on Facebook.

At least three activists who tried to attend the proceedings were detained by police, campaigners said.

Rights defenders appealed for the two defendants  immediate release.

"Putting people on trial for distributing leaflets critical of the government is ridiculous," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

"Vietnam should stop using politically controlled courts to convict critics," Adams added in a statement.

So far this year, at least 36 activists have been convicted of anti-state activity in Vietnam under what rights groups say are vaguely defined articles of the penal code.