A U.S. citizen detained for 40 days in Vietnam said Thursday that he doesn’t regret participating in protests that landed him behind bars in the communist country.
Police in Ho Chi Minh City arrested Will Nguyen, 32, on June 10 while he took part in demonstrations against the Vietnamese government. Among the issues angering protesters were plans to establish special economic zones that they feared would be dominated by Chinese interests.
“The idea of a protest is indeed to disturb the public order, to bring the public’s attention to an issue that is pressing in that society,” Nguyen said by phone from Houston, where he was born and raised. “I will readily admit that I disturbed the public order. That was the intent of the protest. So no I don’t regret it. I knew what I was doing when I went into it.”
Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., was among those who wrote to Vietnam’s ambassador to the U.S., Pham Quang Vinh, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and President Donald Trump, expressing concern over Nguyen’s detainment.
