Police in Vietnam have arrested a senior official involved in talks with international organisations on labour reforms, state media said, adding that the action was linked to disclosure of classified information.
The detention of Nguyen Van Binh follows months of arrests of prominent experts and activists, in what some diplomats see as a further crackdown on civil society amid a major reshuffle of top political leaders in the country.
As director-general of the labour ministry’s legal affairs department, Binh, 51, was charged with overseeing reforms to labour law on which he worked closely with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the ministry said on its website.
Binh was detained on charges of intentionally revealing state secrets, the state-run Tuoi Tre said yesterday, adding that police were widening their investigation.
His efforts with the ILO and international partners aimed at possible ratification of Convention 87 on labour and trade union rights. If passed, the measure would guarantee workers the right to form independent trade unions without prior authorisation. — Reuters
