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| The government is cracking down on bloggers who criticise its policies |
Originally posted at bbc.co.uk: The mother of a prominent
Vietnamese blogger has died from her injuries after setting herself on
fire in front of government offices, her family says.
She was protesting against the detention of her daughter, Ta
Phong Tan, who is facing charges of anti-state propaganda, another
daughter told the BBC's Vietnamese service.
Dang Thi Kim Lieng set herself alight in southern Bac Lieu province.
Her daughter faces trial in August and could be jailed for 20 years.
Dang Thi Kim Lieng went alone, without telling anyone, to the
local government building in Bac Lieu, the second daughter told the
BBC.
Ex-policewoman
The police have made no comment, but activists and lawyers
said that Mrs Dang died while being taken by police to a hospital in Ho
Chi Minh City.
She was said to be extremely worried about the fate of her daughter, who she had not seen since her arrest last September.
Ta Phong Tan was arrested by the authorities with other
bloggers, who are also accused of subversive activities in a state that
controls the media and has little tolerance for criticism.
She is a former policewoman who built up a following with her reports on police abuses and injustices in the legal system.
The police newspaper denounced her writings as toxic and she
was charged with distorting the truth and denigrating the Communist
party and state.
Ta Phong Tan had posted a large number of articles on the
"Free Journalists' Club", a banned website that has been a focus of the
government crackdown on its internet critics.
She denied all the charges against her and has remained in detention since her arrest.
She was due to stand trial alongside another famous blogger,
Phan Thanh Hai, who wrote about various sensitive issues, including a
dispute with China over maritime boundaries, alleged corruption and case
studies of famous dissidents.
Human Rights Watch has accused the Vietnamese government of
stepping up its repression of dissidents over the past year and of
jailing dozens of peaceful activists.
It said Mrs Dang's apparent suicide looked like an act of
desperation to show the authorities what they were doing to the families
of dissidents.
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