Police arrested Que, 69, for allegedly calling for an uprising against the communist government, similar to ongoing political upheavals in North Africa and the Middle East.

Que, a 1996 recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, has spent around 20 years in jail since 1978 for demanding multi-party democracy in Vietnam. He made his latest appeal on the Internet.

Government-controlled media said an investigation by Ho Chi Minh City police "caught Nguyen Dan Que red-handed keeping and distributing documents calling for overthrowing the regime and took him into custody."

A search of his home uncovered "60,000 documentary titles of anti-state content in his computer" in which he made an "appeal to all people, which called on the public to rise up against the regime," the government mouthpiece Vietnam Plus said.

But Que's family confirmed to the BBC that he had been released although he must attend daily "interrogation sessions" at a police station.

Que, an endocrinologist, was arrested first in 1978 -- three years after the end of the Vietnamese war and unification of the North and South Vietnam -- for criticizing the communist government.

In the 1980s, after release from prison, he set up the High Tide Humanists group, which Human Rights Watch described as a non-violent protest group pushing for social reform in Vietnam.

Que was imprisoned again from 1990-98 and after release was under "virtual house arrest until being arrested again in 2003," Human Rights Watch said.

In 2004 he was found guilty of "abusing democratic rights to jeopardize the interests of the state and the legitimate rights and interests of social organizations and citizens," a Ho Chi Minh People's Court said. He was sentenced to 30 months in jail but released in February 2005 after being granted amnesty by the government.

But, according to the Vietnam Plus, "although the party and state have shown clemency to him several times, Que failed to redeem his faults and is continuing anti-regime activities."

In what appears to be an attempt by Vietnamese authorities to dampen any demonstration fervor by the public, the government said Que's detention and ongoing interrogation "is necessary and aimed at ensuring political stability" in Ho Chi Minh City.

The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award was created by the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend in 1984 to honor people who show courage and who have made a significant contribution to human rights in their country. The majority of recipients lives in their home country and can call on the RFK Center for support in their work.

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