Rights Groups' Concern Over Vietnam Lawyer's Arrest

Human Rights Watch as well as Reporters Without Borders have demanded Dinh's immediate release, as have the United States.

40 year old Dinh was arrested by security forces on Saturday on charges of "distributing propaganda against the state".

Dinh has defended a number of pro-democracy activists in recent years. Last September he also defended a pro-democracy blogger who was sentenced to three years in prison on tax charges.

Some are seeing Dinh's arrest in the context of the controversial concession granted by the Vietnamese government to the Chinese aluminium company Chinalco for mining bauxite in Vietnam's pristine Central Highlands.