Vietnam dissident arrests double under leader To Lam, report says

AdvertisementVietnamAsiaSoutheast AsiaVietnam dissident arrests double under leader To Lam, report saysA rights group says Vietnamese authorities are relying increasingly on Article 331, which makes it a crime to ‘abuse democratic freedoms’2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenAssociated PressPublished: 9:53am, 29 Jun 2026Vietnam is increasingly using broadly written laws to arrest activists, dissidents and others that authorities consider a threat to the Communist Party’s rule, according to a new analysis released on Monday by a human rights group.The 88 Project, which focuses on rights issues in Vietnam, documented 56 such arrests last year, the third consecutive year of increases and double the number in 2022. The report included only arrests where the defendant could be identified by name and the case tracked, and the actual numbers were believed to be much higher, said Ben Swanton, co-director of the group.

The report says the country under leader To Lam “routinely weaponises criminal law” to quash dissent. To Lam, the country’s former top security official who has served as general secretary of the party since 2024, was also elected president earlier this year.The arrests are largely driven by fears of an uprising against the leadership in a “colour revolution,” like the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine, or the 1986 Yellow Revolution in the Philippines, according to the report.

A man rides a motorcycle past a banner protesting a massive redevelopment scheme that could displace hundreds of thousands in Hanoi on June 19. Photo: AFPIt is a fear shared by the Communist Party in neighbouring China, which has been accused of using similar tactics to stifle critics. Though competing maritime claims have led to confrontations between the two countries and a tense diplomatic relationship at times, China and Vietnam were able to agree earlier this year to together “prioritise political security and enhance efforts to prevent and resist colour revolutions”, the Chinese state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

“With the ascendancy of To Lam, the country has become a literal police state that tolerates no dissent,” Swanton said. “This represents a serious regression from the period of relative openness in the 2010s when some dissent was tolerated and civil society groups were able to engage in policy activism.”AdvertisementSelect VoiceSelect Speed0.

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