After being held incommunicado for more than a year in 2020, Pham Doan Trang, cofounder of the online magazines Luat Khoa and The Vietnamese, was sentenced on 14 December 2021 to nine years in prison on charges of “anti-state propaganda,” as a result of her work as a journalist. Trang’s case is representative of the Vietnamese regime’s repression against journalists and growing offensive against the right to information.

“Pham Doan Trang is a symbol of press freedom and a voice for the voiceless. She should be celebrated for her courage and not kept in harsh prison conditions thousands of kilometres away from her family, simply for doing her job as a journalist. The international community must use every tool available to secure her release. It is high time that pressure on
Hanoi was intensified.

Since her conviction, Pham Doan Trang’s conditions of detention have deteriorated significantly. In October 2022, she was transferred to a prison nearly 1,000 miles from her family home, making it almost impossible for her 85-year-old mother to visit. Her mental health has significantly deteriorated due to prolonged isolation from her loved ones.

Trang has also faced numerous health problems while incarcerated, including an ongoing disability stemming from a police assault in 2015 that left her with broken legs. She also continues to suffer from the lasting effects of COVID-19 that she caught in prison, as well as chronic sinusitis, arthritis, and various gynaecological conditions.

In addition to its work with governments and international institutions, RSF has also called on the public to take action by signing a petition demanding Pham Doan Trang’s immediate release.

Vietnam ranks 173rd out of 180 countries and territories in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index and is among the world’s leading jailers of journalists, with at least 27 currently detained.