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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Vietnam frees leading dissident | Vietnam frees leading dissident |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The Vietnamese authorities have released leading dissident Nguyen Vu Binh from prison. | The Vietnamese authorities have released leading dissident Nguyen Vu Binh from prison. |
| A former journalist who used the internet to criticise the Communist government, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for spying in 2003. | A former journalist who used the internet to criticise the Communist government, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for spying in 2003. |
| The government said Nguyen Vu Binh, 39, had been granted amnesty by President Nguyen Minh Triet. | The government said Nguyen Vu Binh, 39, had been granted amnesty by President Nguyen Minh Triet. |
| His release comes two weeks before a visit to the United States by Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet. | |
| Washington tensions | |
| After Mr Triet was formally invited to Washington, Vietnamese Vice Foreign Minister Le Van Bang said Hanoi would release three unnamed dissidents. | |
| Since then, several trials of dissidents in Vietnam have raised tensions with Washington. | |
| Nguyen Vu Binh was arrested in September 2002 for writing an online article criticising a border agreement between Vietnam and China. | |
| He had also planned to create an alternative political party, which is illegal in Vietnam. The Communist Party is the country's only political party. | |
| VNA state media said Mr Binh "thanked the Nam Ha prison management for their care while he was serving his sentence there". |