A famous blogger who had been a political refugee in Germany for 12 years went missing for several days while returning to Vietnam to visit his seriously ill mother and has just reappeared in Hanoi.

Mr. Bui Thanh Hieu, born in 1972, (also known as blogger Nguoi Buon Gio) specializes in writing about Vietnam's internal politics, flew from Germany to Bangkok then flew back to Noi Bai airport around October 20.

His friends then alerted social media that he was missing, suspected of being detained by Hanoi police.

On November 3, Facebook Oanh Kim Bui (Mr. Hieu's sister) posted a photo on her personal Facebook, showing Mr. Hieu sitting next to his elderly mother.

On November 4, Ms. Oanh confirmed to a reporter from Radio Free Asia that Mr. Hieu was at his family's home but did not say anything more.

On the same day, she posted photos and videos showing Mr. Hieu visiting relatives, friends and old neighbors.

In a video he confirmed to his friend that:

"My wife and children came back first. They only let me in after my wife and children left Vietnam. I was only in for three days."

He added, "They said that if you come back once and then come back (Duc-PV), if you know what's good for you, they will consider it ," referring to the Security Investigation Agency, Ministry of Public Security.

The reporter called the on-duty officer of the Security Investigation Agency, Ministry of Public Security to ask for information about Mr. Hieu's case but could not connect.

Mr. Le Trung Khoa, editor of Thoibao.de in Germany, told RFA that he knew Mr. Hieu when he was sent from Hanoi to the German city of Weimar under a "writers in exile" scholarship from PEN Germany.

Mr. Khoa, a famous journalist after the kidnapping of Trinh Xuan Thanh in Berlin, added that a few days ago he had written a report about the disappearance of Mr. Bui Thanh Hieu (a German citizen) in Vietnam to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the German police agency because Mr. Hieu had a contract to write articles for his newspaper.

However, according to Mr. Khoa, the German government only confirmed that it had received the document and did not provide any further information.