Vietnam Dissidents Convicted for Subversion

Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, an internet entrepreneur, was given the harshest punishment of 16 years in prison, while his colleague Le Thanh Long received five years. Activist Nguyen Tien Trung got seven years; and 41 year old prominent U.S.-trained lawyer Le Cong Dinh also got five years in prison.

Human rights groups have criticised the trial as a sham, while Danish Ambassador Peter Lysholt Hansen said the defendants had been sentenced for actions "which in a democracy are not unlawful." Hansen was one of the few diplomats who were allowed to watch the trial with journalists via closed-circuit television in a separate room.

The US has also expressed concern over the convictions and called for the immediate and unconditional release of the four dissidents.