The United States says it is concerned at the prison sentences given to two young activists in Vietnam who were convicted this week on subversion charges.
College student Nguyen Phuong Uyen was given six years in prison, while computer technician Dinh Nguyen Kha received eight years following a one-day trial Thursday.
They were found guilty of spreading what Vietnamese authorities said were "anti-government" leaflets that "humiliated" the country's communist government.
On Friday, the U.S. embassy in Hanoi said the sentences were "inconsistent with the right to freedom of expression," and called for the immediate release of all prisoners of conscience.
The statement said the case is "part of a disturbing trend of Vietnamese authorities using charges under national security laws to imprison government critics for peacefully expressing their political views."