(DPA)
Hanoi - South Korea's justice ministry will consider extraditing the man considered Vietnam's most-wanted terrorist, despite appeals from supporters in the United States who say he is a humanitarian and democracy activist, officials said Tuesday.
Nguyen Huu Chanh, 56, a Vietnamese refugee in the US and a former leader of the anti-communist exile group Government of Free Vietnam, based in Garden Grove, California, was arrested in Seoul on April 5 by the South Korean branch of Interpol, according to his family.
The arrest was apparently made on the request of Vietnam's communist government, which wants Chanh tried for terrorism and arms dealing.
An officer in Vietnam's Public Security Ministry, Nguyen Trong Nguyen, welcomed the arrest, saying Chanh is wanted for plotting several bombing attacks on Vietnamese embassies in at least three countries and one foiled attack inside Vietnam.
In 1999, 38 alleged Free Vietnam supporters were arrested in Vietnam with 37 kilograms of explosives and were later convicted of plotting to blow up national monuments.
'Chanh is the most-wanted in Vietnam,' Nguyen said. 'He must be expelled to Vietnam for trial.'
Vietnam's government would not confirm Tuesday whether any extradition request has been made yet, but a spokesman for the South Korean embassy in Hanoi said he was familiar with the case. 'I understand the that Ministry of Justice of Korea will make a decision to send him home to Vietnam or not.'
However, Chanh's supporters and family say the communist government is targeting him for his decades of work promoting multi-party democracy.
Supporters fear that because Chanh is not a US citizen, he may be sent to Vietnam for trial.
'If he is deported, my father will not be able to have the opportunity for a fair trial and will definitely be unjustly prosecuted,' Quang Nguyen, Chanh's US-born son, was quoted as saying on a website advocating his release, www.freechanhnguyen.com.
The Free Vietnam movement is accused of being behind a fire in Vietnam's embassy in London in 2000, a bomb blast that injured a guard at the Vietnamese embassy in Cambodia in 2001, a failed bomb attack at the embassy in Thailand and another plot against an embassy in the Philippines.
Chanh left the Free Vietnam movement in 2005 to become chairman of Walk Against Terror International, which is described as working with US authorities to prevent terrorism.
Nguyen Huu Chanh, 56, a Vietnamese refugee in the US and a former leader of the anti-communist exile group Government of Free Vietnam, based in Garden Grove, California, was arrested in Seoul on April 5 by the South Korean branch of Interpol, according to his family.
The arrest was apparently made on the request of Vietnam's communist government, which wants Chanh tried for terrorism and arms dealing.
An officer in Vietnam's Public Security Ministry, Nguyen Trong Nguyen, welcomed the arrest, saying Chanh is wanted for plotting several bombing attacks on Vietnamese embassies in at least three countries and one foiled attack inside Vietnam.
In 1999, 38 alleged Free Vietnam supporters were arrested in Vietnam with 37 kilograms of explosives and were later convicted of plotting to blow up national monuments.
'Chanh is the most-wanted in Vietnam,' Nguyen said. 'He must be expelled to Vietnam for trial.'
Vietnam's government would not confirm Tuesday whether any extradition request has been made yet, but a spokesman for the South Korean embassy in Hanoi said he was familiar with the case. 'I understand the that Ministry of Justice of Korea will make a decision to send him home to Vietnam or not.'
However, Chanh's supporters and family say the communist government is targeting him for his decades of work promoting multi-party democracy.
Supporters fear that because Chanh is not a US citizen, he may be sent to Vietnam for trial.
'If he is deported, my father will not be able to have the opportunity for a fair trial and will definitely be unjustly prosecuted,' Quang Nguyen, Chanh's US-born son, was quoted as saying on a website advocating his release, www.freechanhnguyen.com.
The Free Vietnam movement is accused of being behind a fire in Vietnam's embassy in London in 2000, a bomb blast that injured a guard at the Vietnamese embassy in Cambodia in 2001, a failed bomb attack at the embassy in Thailand and another plot against an embassy in the Philippines.
Chanh left the Free Vietnam movement in 2005 to become chairman of Walk Against Terror International, which is described as working with US authorities to prevent terrorism.
No comments:
Post a Comment