BANGKOK: A Vietnamese BBC journalist has been blocked by authorities from leaving the country for “several months”, the broadcaster said, heightening concerns about press freedoms in the nation.

Vietnam — a one-party state — has no free media and clamps down hard on dissent, ranking among the world’s leading jailers of journalists with 28 currently behind bars, Reporters Without Borders says.

The BBC said in a statement that an unnamed journalist “has been unable to leave Vietnam for several months as the authorities have withheld their ID card and their renewed passport”.

“During this time our journalist was subject to multiple days of questioning by the authorities,” added the statement published on Tuesday by the British broadcaster.

“The BBC journalist was in Vietnam for a routine passport renewal and to visit family,” it said. The foreign ministry of Vietnam did not respond to request for comment.

Vietnam’s leader To Lam landed in London this week to boost ties with Britain to “new heights”, state media has reported.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2025