Vietnam deports three detained U.S. citizens

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam will deport on Wednesday two more American citizens of Vietnamese origin detained since mid-November on unsubstantiated accusations of involvement in terrorism, the U.S. embassy said.

Another Vietnamese-American, 54-year-old Truong Leon, also known as Truong Van Sy, was kicked out on Tuesday having been held for more than three weeks for "terrorist plots", state media reported.

"A fourth U.S. citizen is still in detention and the United States has not received any formal notification of any charges against him," an embassy spokesman said.

Truong was one of six members of the U.S.-based Viet Tan (Vietnam Reform) Party, which opposes Hanoi's communist-run government, arrested on November 17. The other detainees are another American, a French national, a Thai and two Vietnamese.

Several official newspapers reported that Truong had been "assigned to distribute subversive material against the Vietnamese government in April and November".

The outlawed Viet Tan said police had seized thousands of leaflets promoting peaceful democratic change.

The two Vietnamese Americans being kicked out on Wednesday were arrested on November 23 for smuggling in arms and have been linked by state media to the six. Vietnam Tan rejects any connection, saying it does not support the use of violence.

Ambassador Michael Michalak told reporters Hanoi had failed to produce any evidence to back up state media reports that the four detained U.S. citizens had been involved in terrorism.

The ruling Communist Party rejects calls for multi-party democracy and has arrested about 30 political activists this year. Some were put on trial for "spreading propaganda against the state", a criminal offence.

(Reporting by Grant McCool; Editing by Ed Cropley and Sanjeev Miglani)