Truong Duy Nhat abducted in Bangkok and forcibly returned to Vietnam

It took a Hanoi court just half a day to convict Vietnamese journalist Truong Duy Nhat of charges that he denies and that media rights groups say are politically motivated.

Nhat, who works for RFA, was abducted in Bangkok, Thailand and forcibly removed to custody in Vietnam in January 2019. The journalist had filed for asylum in Thailand via the U.N. Commissioner for Refugees just two days before he disappeared while at a shopping mall.

His family reported him missing and it took two months before they could confirm he had been returned to Vietnam and imprisoned.

In March 2020, Nhat was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of “abusing his position and his power” while working as a reporter. Authorities accused him of property fraud related to his time working at the Dai Don Khet newspaper. Nhat has rejected the charges. Both the journalist and media rights groups say the case is political persecution.

Nhat started his career working for Vietnamese state-run media, but quit in 2010 and started working as a freelance journalist and writing his own blog. He was a weekly contributor to RFA.

The broadcaster reported that its Washington-based editors had last been in contact with Nhat on January 24, 2019 about his work on the growing opposition movement in Venezuela and the possibility of change in Communist-rule in Vietnam. The following day, he was reported missing.

This is the second time that Nhat has been imprisoned in connection with his work and commentary. He was sentenced to two years in prison in 2014 for “abusing democratic freedoms” by writing about the ruling party.

Nhat has health issues that are made worse by the forced labor he is required to do in prison, the journalist’s daughter, Truong, told the Committee to Protect Journalists.

In a social media post before an appeals court upheld her father’s conviction, Truong wrote that “no matter how many years it takes, I will still wait for you.”

“The Vietnamese authorities may imprison you, journalist Truong Duy Nhat, but thousands of other journalists of conscience will continue to raise their voices,” she wrote.

Media rights groups including Reporters Without Borders (RSF) have condemned both the sentence and the way Nhat was forcibly returned to Vietnam.

“The grounds given for this extremely harsh sentence are totally unacceptable,” RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk said in a statement at the time of his trial. “The Vietnamese authorities manifestly wanted to make an example out of [Nhat] by persecuting him in this way.”

Last updated March 12, 2026