Amnesty International has welcomed reports that Father Nguyen Van Ly, a prisoner of conscience, has been released from jail in Vietnam.

Father Ly is a Catholic priest and an activist for human rights and democracy. In March 2007 Father Ly was sentenced to eight years imprisonment in Vietnam for “conducting propaganda” against the state. He was accused of involvement in the internet-based pro-democracy movement Bloc 8406, which he co-founded in April 2006, and of taking part in the establishment of banned political groups. He also secretly published a dissident journal, Tu Do Ngon Luan (Freedom and Democracy).

Since Father Ly was first jailed for his activism in the late 1970s, he has spent some 17 years as a prisoner of conscience, detained for calling for respect for human rights and freedom of expression, and for criticising government policies on religion.

Amnesty International adopted Father Ly as a prisoner of conscience in December 1983, because he was imprisoned solely for his non-violent religious and political views.