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Vietnamese authorities have barred a BBC journalist from leaving the country and subjected them to days of interrogation, in a press freedom case that comes to light during a high-profile visit by Vietnam’s leader to the UK.
The journalist, a Vietnamese citizen who lives and works in Thailand, had returned to their home country in August to renew their passport, according a source with knowledge of the situation.
While their passport was reissued, it was held by police, who interrogated them over a number of days, asking questions about their journalism, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Friends of the journalist hope their case can be raised by British prime minister, Keir Starmer, who is hosting Vietnam’s leader, general secretary Tô Lâm, who arrived in the UK on Tuesday.
After being approached for comment, the BBC confirmed that one of its journalists had been “unable to leave Vietnam for several months as the authorities have withheld their ID card and their renewed passport”.
“During this time our journalist was subject to multiple days of questioning by the authorities. The BBC journalist was in Vietnam for a routine passport renewal and to visit family,” the media outlet said in a statement.
“We are deeply concerned about our journalist’s wellbeing and urge the authorities to allow them to leave immediately, providing them with their renewed passport so they can return to work,” it added.
Vietnam remains an extremely restrictive environment for journalists, who cannot operate freely in the one-party state, controlled by the country’s Communist party. Domestic media is highly censored and dissenters are regularly jailed.
In May, the print edition of the Economist, which featured Tô Lâm on its cover, was banned in the country, part of a long series of acts of media censorship by authorities.
The magazine carried an image of Tô Lâm with stars on his eyes, alongside the headline “The man with a plan for Vietnam”, with an article carrying the subheading: “A Communist party hard man has to rescue Asia’s great success story”.
Vietnam was one of Asia’s fastest growing economies last year but has suffered the threat of tariffs.
Officials show little tolerance for dissent and maintain tight control on the media, with press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières ranking it as among the worst in the world for media freedoms – at 173rd place out of an index of 180 countries. The group describes Vietnam as “one of the world’s biggest prisons for journalists”.
The Vietnamese government has been approached for comment.
