While Vietnam has liberalized its economy in recent decades, its political system remains brutally repressive, intent on silencing voices of dissent. Dozens of key human rights activists have faced persecution in the past year. The latest is Le Quoc Quan, “a 42-year-old lawyer, outspoken Catholic and blogger” whom the Washington Post described as “one of the country’s most popular and courageous advocates of greater freedom.”

The Post’s editorial describes his persecution:

On Wednesday Mr. Quan was sentenced to 30 months in prison on trumped-up charges of tax evasion. He was arrested last December, a few days after publishing an article that questioned whether the Communist Party’s monopoly on power should be excised from the country’s constitution.

This is not the first time Mr. Quan has suffered repression. In 2007, he was arrested shortly after returning from a fellowship with the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington; he was released three months later after protests from Washington. In 2011, he was detained again for observing the trial of another dissident. In 2012, he was attacked and badly beaten by men he said were state security agents. In the face of all this, Mr. Quan persevered, posting on his blog regular accounts of human rights abuses and proposals for political liberalization.

I hope Catholics will join the Washington Post’s editorial board in prodding the Obama administration to reconsider deepening US-Vietnam economic relations in the absence of real progress on human rights and respect for the rule of law. Economic interests should not automatically trump human rights, and Catholics should press for the protection of Le Quoc Quan, who is being persecuted for his Catholic commitment to human freedom and dignity. The Obama administration should make clear that there are real costs to such egregious behavior.