Vietnam must immediately implement a moratorium on the death penalty and its use for vague national security crimes, an international human rights coalition says.

The Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) made the call in a report issued as death penalty opponents from around the world were to begin meeting Wednesday in Geneva.
 

FIDH, and its affiliated Vietnam Committee on Human Rights, said they were "deeply disturbed by Vietnam's use of the death penalty to sanction vaguely-defined 'national security' crimes."
 

It said the United Nations had frequently expressed concern that critics in Vietnam "may be sentenced to death under these provisions simply for the peaceful exercise of the right to free expression."
 

Under Article 79 of the penal code dissidents may be put to death "for the mere 'intent' to criticise the government or form opposition movements," the report said.

Last month, four democracy activists charged under Article 79 were jailed for between five and 16 years for trying to overthrow the communist regime, in a case criticised by the European Union, the United States and Britain.

Situation worsening
Analysts, rights groups and diplomats say the human rights situation in Vietnam has been worsening.
 

Capital punishment "is particularly dangerous in a one-party state such as Vietnam, where the judiciary is totally subservient to the Communist Party", said the FIDH, a network of 155 rights organisations around the world.

Most death sentences in Vietnam are handed down for drug trafficking and murder cases.

Vietnamese authorities do not issue death penalty statistics but this year 25 people have been sentenced to death, according to reports in state-linked media.
 

Last year there were at least 83 death sentences and nine executions, according to Vietnamese media reports.
 

FIDH said 1,700 abolitionists from around the world were gathering for the 4th World Congress Against the Death Penalty.
 

The group called for "a strong, coordinated action against the excessive and often arbitrary use of death penalty in countries such as Iran, China, Vietnam."
 

Source: Reuters