Hanoi  - Vietnam defended the arrest last weekend of a lawyer who had represented democracy activists, state media reported Thursday.

The arrest of lawyer Le Cong Dinh, 41, in Ho Chi Minh City was denounced by international human rights groups including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Reporters Without Borders. The US State Department called Tuesday for Dinh's immediate release.

In a statement distributed to Vietnamese press Wednesday evening, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Le Dung said authorities had acted "in accordance with provisions of the law."

Dung ascribed responsibility for the arrest to the Ministry of Public Security, which he said had accused Dinh of "colluding with a number of overseas elements to undermine the Socialist Republic of Vietnam."

Dinh was close to several dissidents who formed a pro-democracy movement in 2006 known as Bloc 8406. He defended human rights lawyers Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan in May 2007, where they were sentenced to prison for "disseminating propaganda that was harmful to the State."

In September 2008, Dinh defended the pro-democracy blogger known as Dieu Cay, who was sentenced to three years in prison on tax charges.

Several prominent Vietnamese intellectuals have reacted unusually sharply to Dinh's arrest. Leading economist Nguyen Quang A called it "a brutal choking-off of democracy."

Dinh rose to prominence in 2003 when, as a lawyer at the firm White and Case, he defended Vietnamese catfish farmers against US anti-dumping tariffs.

Dinh is charged with violating Article 88 of Vietnam's criminal code, which forbids distributing information opposing the government. The charges carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. (dpa)