Vietnam confirms detention of U.S. citizen

[tuvor]

HANOI (Reuters) - A Vietnamese-born U.S. citizen was detained in mid-August, a government spokesman said on Thursday as rights groups complained he was arrested after using the Internet to call for alternatives to one-party communist rule.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung said the man, Cong Thanh Do, 47, was "temporarily detained in Ho Chi Minh City for violations of Vietnamese law" on August 17, but he declined to say on what charges.

"When we receive the outcome of the investigation we will let you know," the spokesman said at a regular media briefing.

Do's family in San Jose, California, publicized his detention at the weekend, days after Vietnam released its most prominent cyber-dissident, Ham Hong Son, under a presidential amnesty.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/07/AR2006090700295.html