Hanoi: A dissident Vietnamese blogger known by the pen name “Mother Mushroom” was on her way to freedom in the United States on Wednesday after being released
from prison where she was serving 10 years for anti-state propaganda, sources said.
Mother Mushroom — a name that came from her daughter’s nickname “mushroom” — became one of Vietnam’s most outspoken critics before she was put behind bars in 2017, thanks to her writing on the taboo topic of deaths in police custody, the environment and politics.
She was freed from jail on Wednesday and put on a flight to the United States, an American embassy source, friends and a Vietnam official said. “Quynh was sent to the US earlier today,” a Vietnamese government official confirmed, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Mother Mushroom was arrested in October 2016 after visiting a fellow activist in prison — but even from jail she remained steadfast in her opposition to the communist government. — AFP
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