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Chris Humphrey

Chris Humphrey

Chris Humphrey is based in Hanoi as the Vietnam Bureau Chief for Deutsche Presse-Agentur. As a freelance journalist, he also writes for South China Morning Post and other publications, covering human rights, culture, geopolitics, and the environment.

A resurgence of coronavirus in the country served to dampen proceedings, after Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong was re-elected for an ‘unprecedented’ third term.

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The harsh jail terms given to three journalists this week, including prominent activist Pham Chi Dung, are just the latest in a string of sentences handed out to critics.

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Retired baker Chau Van Kham has been sentenced to 12 years for ‘terrorist activities against the state’ in a trial that human rights campaigners say is part of a wave of repression.

First prosecution since closure of a legal loophole that enabled men to sexually abuse young boys without it being considered a sex crime raises hopes the country has turned a corner on child abuse.

What began as a viewing party for RuPaul’s Drag Race is fast becoming a mainstay of the Vietnamese capital’s LGBT scene. But it has not been an easy transition