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October 29, 2025 – Vietnam –
A journalist working for the BBC has been prevented from leaving Vietnam and endured multiple days of questioning by state authorities following a trip to renew their passport and visit family. Since August, the reporter — a Vietnamese national based in Thailand — has been unable to depart the country due to the detention of both their renewed passport and identity card by Vietnamese officials.
According to sources familiar with the case, Vietnamese security personnel interrogated the journalist for an extended period, probing the nature of their reporting work. Despite the routine nature of the visit, the withholding of documentation and the depth of questioning suggest the authorities are treating the journalist as a suspect rather than a visitor.
The case has drawn international concern amidst a visit to the U.K. by Tô Lâm, General Secretary of Vietnam’s Communist Party. Colleagues and media-freedom advocates have appealed to Keir Starmer and the British government to raise the journalist’s predicament during diplomatic engagements.
Vietnam’s press-freedom record remains among the world’s most constrained; Reporters Without Borders ranks the country 173rd out of 180 nations, describing it as “one of the world’s biggest prisons for journalists”.
The BBC issued a statement saying it is “deeply concerned” for its reporter’s well-being and requested that Vietnamese authorities return the essential documentation and enable the journalist’s immediate departure to resume work.
The case underscores how state-controlled environments can leverage passport restrictions and intense interrogations to intimidate press workers and curb critical reporting. Without a documented legal charge, the actions against the journalist signal a broader climate of impunity and repression in which authorities may hold media workers hostage to silence coverage they find inconvenient.
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