Woman receives jail term for joining terrorist organization

Le Thi Kim Phi was charged with “conducting activities against the people’s government”, the An Giang People’s Court in the southern province determined.

Since September 2020, Phi used her Facebook account to make friends with several members of the organization “Chinh phu quoc gia Viet Nam lam thoi” (Provisional National Government of Vietnam). The organization is classified as terrorist by the Ministry of Public Security.

She often used her account to share articles, videos and images with contents said to be “against the Party and State,” the indictment said.

At the end of 2020, she asked to join the organization, participating in its meetings and classes.

An investigation into over 400 pages of documents and videos from Phi’s Facebook account confirmed the contents were against the state, with the intention to overthrow it. She was arrested in July 2021.

The terrorist organization, established in 1990 by 70-year-old Dao Minh Quan in the U.S., aims to overthrow the Vietnamese government through violence and acts of terrorism, according to the public security ministry.

Under Vietnam’s Penal Code, conducting activities to overthrow the government is punishable by death while anti-government propaganda can be punished with up to 20 years in jail.