Hanoi - Vietnam expelled an ethnic Vietnamese Australian citizen, charging he tried to set up a network to smuggle weapons and activists from a foreign-based opposition group into the country, local media reported Tuesday.
The state-run Vietnam News reported that Nguyen Van Be, 57, was placed on a flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Australia on Monday, in the presence of an Australian consular official.
Be is reportedly a member of the Viet Tan Party, a Vietnamese exile group that opposes the Vietnamese Communist Party's monopoly on political power inside the country.
The government considers Viet Tan a terrorist organization, and police characterized Be as a terrorist.
Police said Be arrived in Vietnam on April 25 to visit relatives, but was observed taking photos of several border gates between Vietnam and Cambodia and of the US Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City.
Authorities arrested Be on May 9, and confiscated the photos.
--------Việt Tân cũng đang nói người của họ vô tộiTrục xuất thành viên Việt Tân
Asean reacts to Suu Kyi trial
BANGKOK - THE Association of South-east Asian Nations on Tuesday expressed 'grave concern' in its first official reaction to the closed-door trial of Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The regional bloc, which rarely speaks out on the domestic political issues of its 10 members, issued a statement through current chair Thailand to urge the immediate release of the detained Nobel Peace laureate.
