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Suspended for Facebook post about Ho Chi Minh

Suspended for Facebook post: An eighth-grade Vietnamese girl was suspended from school over a Facebook post parodying a speech by Ho Chi Minh

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(AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)
A Vietnamese eighth-grader was suspended for writing a parody of a Ho Chi Minh speech on Facebook.
  • By Staff Associated Press

| Hanoi

School authorities in Vietnam have suspended an eighth-grade student for one year after she posted a parody of a speech by revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh on Facebook.

State-controlled media said Tuesday that the girl's post used language from a famous speech by Ho Chi Minh in 1946 appealing for resistance against French colonialists.

“All students! As we desire peace, we have made concessions. But the more concessions we make, the more the teachers press on, for they are bent on failing us once again. No, we would rather sacrifice all than be dismissed. Never shall we have to take the exam again. We have to stand up!” said Ho Chin Minh.

The post joked about never having to take exams again.

“All students, whether boy or girl, good or stupid, tall or short have to find ways to get good marks in the exam. Those who have health will use their health, those who have heads will use their heads. Those who have neither health or head have to copy or use cheat sheets," wrote Nguyen Thanh Vy. 

Phap Luat Viet Nam quoted a local official in Quang Nam province as saying the girl had "distorted history and seriously insulted teachers."

The girl said the posting was "just for fun."

Ho Chi Minh is revered in Vietnam for leading the country to independence from French rule.  The current Communist government doesn't allow freedom of speech.

As The Christian Science Monitor reported, a Kuwaiti court sentenced a man to two years in prison for insulting the country's ruler on Twitter, a lawyer following the case said, as the Gulf Arab state cracks down on criticism of the authorities on social media.

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