Vietnam Releases Scores of Prisoners

Scores of prisoners across Vietnam were released Friday as part of a nationwide presidential directive on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the end of this country’s war.

Earlier in the week, Vietnam announced that it would free 7,820 prisoners in a mass release to coincide with the April 30 celebration of the country’s reunification after the conflict ended.

At Vietnam’s largest prison, near Thu Duc, about 80 miles north of Ho Chi Minh City, 181 prisoners waited silently on wooden benches for their names to be called by the camp commander.

Chief Inspector Ho Thanh Dinh read aloud the names on a stage decorated with a bust of former leader Ho Chi Minh.

Most of those freed were young, their faces weathered from laboring in the sun. They walked through a series of gates to reach family and friends waiting outside.

Among those released was Anthony Nguyen, 31, an American citizen from Washington, D.C., who had been sentenced in 2000 to seven years after being convicted of assault for a bar fight.

Nguyen, who lived in the U.S. from 1991 to 2000, is one of 19 foreigners who were freed.

“I was very happy and surprised when I found out at 5 a.m. about the president’s decision to release me,” he said.

Also released were 16 political and religious dissidents who had been charged with crimes against national security or causing social disorder.