A number of people who fled Vietnam for Australia on a fishing boat in May this year, are now facing trial for charges of human trafficking, according to Radio Free Asia.

Four passengers out of the 21 people on the fishing boat are now facing various jail sentences.

Australia’s Human Rights Watch, and one woman on the boat claim that the Vietnamese government promised not to jail boat people leaving Vietnam in search of work.

Despite this, one of the defendants is facing between seven to 15 years in jail for what the government deems as organising for others to flee the country illegally.

The fishing boat left Vietnam on May 18 this year, before it reached Australian waters in June.

The arrivals were returned to Vietnam by airplane and arrived at Tân Sơn Nhất airport in Ho Chi Minh City on June 16.

The four defendants will be tried later in December.

It will be the third time this year that the Vietnamese government has charged citizens who were returned by Australia.

– TiVi Tuan-san