BANGKOK (AP) — Vietnam is increasingly using broadly written laws to arrest activists, dissidents and others that authorities consider a threat to the Communist Party’s rule, according to a new analysis released Monday by a human rights group.

The 88 Project, which focuses on rights issues in Vietnam, documented 56 such arrests in 2025, the third consecutive year of increases and double the number in 2022. The report includes only arrests where the defendant could be identified by name and the case tracked, and the actual numbers are believed to be much higher, said Ben Swanton, co-director of the group.

The report says the country under leader To Lam “routinely weaponizes criminal law” to quash dissent. To Lam, the country’s former top security official who has served as general secretary of the Communist Party since 2024, was also elected president earlier this year.

The arrests are largely driven by fears of an uprising against the leadership in a so-called “color revolution,” like the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine, or the 1986 Yellow Revolution in the Philippines, according to the report.

It is a fear shared by the Communist Party in neighboring China, which has been accused of using similar tactics to stifle critics. Though competing maritime claims have led to confrontations between the two countries and a tense diplomatic relationship at times, China and Vietnam were able to agree earlier this year to together “prioritize political security and enhance efforts to prevent and resist color revolutions,” the Chinese state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

“With the ascendancy of To Lam, the country has become a literal police state that tolerates no dissent,” Swanton said.

“This represents a serious regression from the period of relative openness in the 2010s when some dissent was tolerated and civil society groups were able to engage in policy activism.”

Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the findings of the report.

The report found that authorities are relying increasingly on Article 331 of Vietnam’s penal code, which makes it a crime punishable by up to seven years in prison to “abuse democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the state.”

Previously little used, “authorities have enlarged the scope and application of Article 331 so that it reaches further into society, beyond human rights and democracy dissidents … to all those who voice any grievance with state or local Communist Party and government officials,” New York-based Human Rights Watch wrote in a report last year.

“The Vietnamese authorities’ increased use of Article 331 is a little known facet of the government’s expanding crackdown on ordinary people who are seeking to use social media and other peaceful means to publicly raise important social issues, including religious freedom, land rights, rights of Indigenous people, and government and Communist Party corruption,” Human Rights Watch wrote.

Among those arrested under Article 331 last year were three men behind the YouTube channel “Nguoi Da Tin’ — The Messenger — on allegations that videos they uploaded were ”distorted content” that violated the statute, The 88 Project reported.

The report provides details of every arrest identified as politically related in 2025.

Those also included an activist for the minority Montagnard group who was arrested in Thailand and extradited to Vietnam, a dissident writer accused of spreading “propaganda against the state,” and a man who helped residents of Ha Tinh province file complaints demanding fair compensation for land expropriated for a new highway.

“The Vietnamese government has dealt alarmingly severe punishments to longstanding targets like journalists and human rights activists, while displaying an increasing willingness to attack groups previously thought safe, such as political exiles and legal petitioners,” the report said.

A “new normal” of heightened risk and uncertain regulation is impacting the Strait of Hormuz, shipping firm Hapag-Lloyd warned Sunday, as military strikes escalated and conflicting routing directives plunged the waterway into operational chaos.

The remarks from the German shipping giant also came as Tehran “simultaneously” began moving millions of barrels of crude oil from Kharg Island for the first time in days, according to maritime intelligence firm Windward AI.

“At Kharg, the T-Jetty and Western Terminal loaded simultaneously for the first time in days; the East Waiting Area holds 28 tankers, 27 dark, signaling the Iranian crude export cycle restarting,” Windward AI said in a post on X.

The outbound cargo consists of an estimated 4.12 million barrels of wet cargo, including crude oil and other liquid hydrocarbons. Of that total, about 3.91 million barrels are crude oil, analytics firm Vortexa said.

GULF SHIPPING OPERATIONS GRIND TO HALT NEAR IRAN, US QUIETLY PREPARES FOR POSSIBLE STRIKE: ‘HEIGHTENED RISK’

“We have to acknowledge that this is for some months the new normal in the Persian Gulf region,” Hapag-Lloyd AG spokesperson Hanja Maria Richter told Fox News Digital.

“The situation has been fluid for us since the beginning of the conflict,” she said before adding that constant vigilance has become essential to operating in the region.

“We have been making and still make regular risk and situation assessments with our security partners, all relevant authorities and our people on shore and, of course, on the vessels,” Richter said.

“It is a region in conflict, so we consider this with every single ship we move in the region and assess the risks for every vessel and its crew individually.”

IRAN STARTS ‘INDISCRIMINATE’ STRIKES ACROSS GULF OF OMAN, HITS SHADOW TANKER TIED TO REGIME

Richter’s remarks came as U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) launched airstrikes against Iranian targets, including Qeshm Island on June 26 after a vessel was struck in the strait.

This prompted Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to retaliate by targeting U.S. military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain. 

Adding to the strike risk is a tug-of-war over control of the transit lanes.

Lloyd’s List described the fracturing of the waterway as a “confused, two-tier system now operating in the strait, which remains split between the Iran-controlled northern route and a U.S.-protected southern ‘highway,’ with the pre-war routes rendered unusable because of the risk of mines, separating them.”

Iran is responsible for managing and fully reopening maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz under recent understandings, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday, according to Iran International.

EXPERTS URGE EXTREME CAUTION ON IRAN’S ‘CROWN JEWEL’ HEZBOLLAH — TERROR GROUP WITH US BLOOD ON ITS HANDS

Iranian state television said that passage through the Strait of Hormuz demands coordination with the IRGC.

Hapag-Lloyd pushed back against any future attempts to weaponize or monetize passage through the critical global chokepoint.

“It would be fundamentally wrong to impose fees for passage through international waters,” Richter said.

“Fees for infrastructure such as the Suez Canal or the Panama Canal are a different matter, as they reflect major infrastructure investments. That is not the case with the Strait of Hormuz.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

While thousands of crew members remain caught by conflicting naval directives, Hapag-Lloyd said it had successfully navigated the initial bottleneck.

“Good news is that we were able to have all Hapag-Lloyd vessels that were affected by the temporary closure of the Strait of Hormuz and had been waiting in the Persian Gulf depart safely from the Gulf,” Richter noted before adding that “the safety of our crews is our highest priority.”

Thousands of guests, including diplomats, politicians and military personnel, attended an event organised by the US Embassy to Belgium in Brussels on Sunday to celebrate the 250th anniversary of US independence.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

“The US Embassy in Belgium will host an invitation-only celebration to celebrate this historic milestone: 250 Years of Independence: Building Our Future Together.

The lavish celebration took place at Parc du Cinquantenaire, an iconic park in the Belgian capital near the European Union institutions. Guests tried their hand at baseball, rode a mechanical bull and participated in a linedance.

The festivities also featured music, performances, a ceremonial flyover and will conclude with a drone and firework show.

US Ambassador to Belgium Bill White opened the ceremony. Among those attending were Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and European Parliament president Roberta Metsola.

In a post on X, Metsola honoured 250 years of the transatlantic partnership that has weathered both triumphs and challenges alike.

Many US military personnel based in the Belgian capital were also in attendance.

Asked about funding, the US ambassador said he had raised more than five million dollars from over 220 donors, Belgian media report.

Both American and Belgian companies, as well as private individuals contributed, according to White. Sponsors include American multinationals such as Meta, Microsoft, Nike and McDonald’s, alongside Belgian names such as Leonidas, Port of Antwerp-Bruges, Sabena, Van Moer Logistics and Sibelco.

Criticism: the privatisation of a public space

The event, however, drew widespread criticism from local residents and numerous organisations.

On Sunday morning, Greenpeace unrolled a massive banner in the historic Grand Place square in the Belgian capital.

“The 600-square-metre banner read ‘War. Greed. Energy Crisis. What’s there to celebrate?‘ condemning using the occasion to promote Trump’s political and corporate agenda,” Greenpeace wrote in a statement.

“The celebration in Brussels takes place against a backdrop of intensifying global instability driven by the White House,” the statement added.

Outside of the security perimetre of the park, several activist groups, including Extinction Rebellion, Indivisible Belgium and Rise for Climate denounced the event, protesting against the privatisation of the public park.

Local residents also expressed their discontent, unhappy with the lack of communication surrounding the event, but also with the multi-day closure of one of the city’s largest public parks amid an ongoing heatwave that has swept across Europe the past week.