2006年VOA标准英语-Vietnam to Free Dissident

By Matt Steinglass
Hanoi
28 August 2006

The government of Vietnam says it has granted amnesty to one of the country's highest profile dissidents, Pham Hong Son.  Western governments and human rights organizations considered Son a political prisoner.

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The Vietnamese government announced on Monday it was granting amnesty to Pham Hong Son, as part of the freeing of over five thousand other prisoners. Such amnesties are often announced in honor of Vietnam's independence day on September 2.

A doctor in his mid-30s, Son was arrested in March 2002 after he translated an essay on democracy which he found on the website of the U.S. Embassy. He sent the essay to friends and to senior Vietnamese officials. In June 2003 he was convicted of espionage¹ and sentenced to five years in prison. 

		Vice2 Minister of Public Security Le The Tiem speaks to reporters at a press briefing in Hanoi, Vietnam on Monday, August 28, 2006" src="/upimg/allimg/070417/1358480.jpg" width="193" border="0" /> Vice Minister of Public Security Le The Tiem speaks to reporters at a press briefing in Hanoi, Vietnam on Monday, August 28, 2006

Vice Minister of Public Security Le The Tiem said Son could be freed as soon as Tuesday.

Tiem said the amnesty request came from Son and his family. Foreign governments and human rights organizations had also been pressuring Vietnam to release Son, who had been the U.S. State Department's highest priority "prisoner of concern" in Vietnam.

In a statement, also on Monday, a U.S. Embassy spokesperson welcomed the release, and said the United States remained hopeful that "all of our prisoners of concern, namely Nguyen Vu Binh and Phan Van Ban, will be released soon."

Binh was sentenced to eight years in 2003 for writing controversial essays on the Internet. Ban, a former South Vietnamese police officer, has been in prison since 1978 for political activities.

Pham Hong Son may be out of prison soon, but he has not been entirely³ pardoned, according to Vice Minister Tiem.

Tiem says Son would still serve three years of what he called "local cooperation". Vietnamese dissidents released from prison often face years of surveillance or travel restrictions⁴ by local authorities.

Meanwhile, in recent weeks, Vietnamese authorities have reportedly re-arrested three friends in Ho Chi Minh City who had discussed multiparty democracy over the internet last autumn. And police have repeatedly questioned five Hanoi dissidents who planned to publish an independent political newsletter.

1 espionage   

n.间谍行为，谍报活动

参考例句：

• The authorities have arrested several people suspected of espionage.官方已经逮捕了几个涉嫌从事间谍活动的人。
• Neither was there any hint of espionage in Hanley's early life.汉利的早期生活也毫无进行间谍活动的迹象。

2 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

3 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

4 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制