Another Lao Arrested For Criticism of Government on Social Media
A Lao man who had complained about corruption in the communist-run country on social media was arrested at his home in southern Laos last week and is being questioned in jail about links to “an anti-government group of overseas Laotians,” police sources told RFA Tuesday.
The arrest on Aug. 26 of Sangkhane “Thitsy” Phachanthavong was condemned by human rights groups, who said he is the latest known victim of a government that locks up citizens who post popular gripes and mild criticism on Facebook about graft and abuses in the impoverished one-party state.
Before last week’s arrest, a 30-year-old woman named Houayheuang Xayabouly was jailed for five years in November for defaming the country in complaints about the government response to floods in a Facebook Live video. And three Lao workers got long jail terms in 2017 for criticizing the government on Facebook while working in Thailand.
RFA Lao service, Translated by Sidney Khotpanya and Ounkeo Souksavanh, Written in English by Paul Eckert.
