Defend the Defenders | July 30, 2017
===== July 24 =====
One More Vietnamese Activist Detained, Will Be Charged with Attempt to Overthrow Government
Defend the Defenders: On July 24, security forces in Vietnam’s central province of Nghe An detained local activist Le Dinh Luong, saying the detention is based on his recent activities which “aim to overthrow the people’s government and cause social disorders.”
In its press release issued after detaining Mr. Luong, the Investigation Agency under the Nghe An province’s Department of Public Security said it will hold him and prosecute him for “Carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration” under Article 79 of the 1999 Penal Code.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Huan, an activist witnessed the detention said he, Mr. Luong and Mr. Thai Van Hoa visited the family of detained activist Nguyen Van Oai in Hoang Mai town. On their way back to their house, plainclothes agents detained Luong and Hoa at around 2 PM.
Mr. Hoa, a brother of former prisoner of conscience Thai Van Dung said plainclothes agents beat Luong brutally, took him into a car and drove away. Hoa was also taken to a police station and released in early evening of the same day.
Mr. Luong, 52, is a social activist residing in Hop Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district. The army veteran of the war against China’s invasion in the country’s northernmost region in 1980s has been under harassment of the local authorities for long time.
Luong is a Catholic follower in the Vinh Hoa parish. He had provided great supports for families of 14 young Catholic prisoners of conscience from Nghe An. He also assisted local residents to protest illegal fees on education and new-style rural development set by Nghe An authorities as well the right to have more than two children. In addition, he has voiced against the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant which discharged huge amount of toxic industrial waste into the central coastal waters and caused the environmental disaster in the region last year, in which hundreds tons of fisheries were killed.
On August 28, 2015, he and other activists were brutally beaten by police when they visited former prisoners of conscience Tran Minh Nhan in Lam Ha district, Lam Dong province.
Mr. Luong is likely to be held incommunicado for at least four months for investigation and he will face imprisonment of between twelve and twenty years of imprisonment, life imprisonment or capital punishment, according to the current Vietnamese law.
The arrest of Luong is part of Vietnam’s intensified crackdown against local political dissidents, human rights advocates, social activists and online bloggers.
In late June, Vietnam sentenced prominent human rights defender Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh to ten years in jail and today, it will try Tran Thi Nga, another human rights advocate. Both are charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article of Penal Code.
More than 100 Vietnamese activities are imprisoned in the country, according to international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
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Vietnam Activist Beaten, Detained by Police While Picturing Police Harassment against Former Prisoner of Conscience
Defend the Defenders: During the late evening of July 24, activist and blogger Nguyen Hieu from Vietnam’s southern city of Vung Tau was beaten, detained and interrogated by local security forces when he was filming police harassment against former prisoner of conscience Bui Thi Minh Hang.
Around 9 PM of Monday, police in Vung Tau came to the private residence of Bui Thi Minh Hang, who was released on February 11 after 30 months of imprisonment, to demand for administrative checking. Ms. Bui Hang rejected opening her house’s gate to and called for support from local activists.
Informed by the incident, Mr. Hieu, an activist in the city, came to help the former prisoner of conscience. When he arrived to the place, he saw numerous police officers and militia in the front of her house. Hieu used his cell phone to film the scene.
Immediately, police and militia detained him, beating him with their batons until he fell on the ground. Police took him to the local police station in Ward 4 and hand-cuffed him until midnight when other activists came to demand for his release.
Due to the police torture, Hieu suffered from numerous injuries and was taken to a local hospital for emergency.
This is the second attack of Vung Tau police against Hieu. Two weeks ago, he was also beaten by a group of plainclothes agents.
Mr. Hieu is among activists in Vung Tau participating in peaceful demonstrations against child molestation, China’s violations of the Vietnamese sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea) and the Taiwanese Formosa Plastic Group which caused the environmental disaster in the central coastal region by discharging huge volume of toxic industrial waste into the local waters.
He has also provided assistance for other activists, including Ms. Hang when she came back from prison. Hang was a former prisoner of conscience, sentenced to 30 months in jail for her activities which aims to promote human rights and protest China’s expansionism in the East Sea.
Due to his activism, police asked his landlord to terminate apartment hiring contract and sent plainclothes agents to assault him in early July.
Along with detention and prison, Vietnamese activists are facing physical persecution of local security forces. Numerous political dissidents, human rights advocates, social activists and online bloggers have been assaulted by police officers and plainclothes agents.
Last month, Human Rights Watch released its report documenting 36 attacks of Vietnamese police and plainclothes agents against 45 activists in the period between the beginning of 2016 and April 2017. In many cases, victims suffered from sustained severe injuries as a result of the crackdown.
===== July 25 =====
Second Vietnam Human Rights Defender Sentenced with Heavy Sentence within One Month amid Increasing Crackdown
Defend the Defenders: On July 25, the People’s Court in Vietnam’s northern province of Ha Nam sentenced human rights defender Tran Thi Nga to nine years in prison and additional five years under house arrest on charge of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the country’s 1999 Penal Code.
The sentence was based mainly on numerous video clips in which she condemned human rights violations conducted by Vietnam’s authorities and criticized state officials for systemic corruption, land grabbing, economic mismanagement and weak response to China’s violations of the country’s sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea).
None of Ms. Nga’s relatives were allowed to attend the open court which is closed for domestic reporters and foreign journalists while diplomats from many EU countries were denied to have access to the trial. Many activists came to the province to support her but they were kept away from the court building.
Local authorities deployed a large number of police officers, mobile police, plainclothes agents and militia to the court areas. They beat a number of activists including Trinh Dinh Hoa, Nguyen Tuan Nghia, and Hoang Lan (see video https://www.facebook.com/thanhnienconggiao/videos/1386960118039791/?hc_ref=ARR3GElfKnh893cUCDchYplAr4ZyBlzKSdfuEtcw0pQSN4Pd2f64-Jh2ZLV6HIa4yhI&pnref=story).
Ms. Nga, a mother of four children, two of them are seven and four years old, was arrested on January 21. She was kept incommunicado until recently when she was permitted to meet with her lawyers to prepare for her defense. She has not been allowed to meet with her kids since being detained while her partner can only send some supplements for her monthly.
Ms. Nga was a migrant worker in Taiwan. While working there, she assisted Vietnamese workers to demand Vietnamese brokers to take responsibility to ensure the rights of migrant workers.
Upon her return to Vietnam, about ten years ago, she has assisted land petitioners who lost their land due to illegal seizure from local authorities.
She also participated in many anti-China demonstrations in Hanoi from 2011 to 2016 to protest China’s violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea), as well as in peaceful gatherings to demand multi-party democracy.
Due to her activities, Vietnam’s communist government, particularly authorities in Ha Nam province have constantly harassed and persecuted her and her two children. She was detained many times and was placed under de facto house arrest for most of the last two years.
In May 2014, she was attacked by plainclothes agents in Hanoi who broke her right leg and caused a number of severe injuries to her body.
Police in Ha Nam also targeted her kids, throwing dirty sauce containing decaying shrimp at them. Her private residence in Phu Ly city was attacked with paint and dirty substances many times.
Ms. Nga is among six distinguished women human rights activists in Southeast Asia the London-based NGO Amnesty International recognized their works on the occasion of International Women’s Day (March 8) this year. Nga, Sirikan Charoensiri from Thailand, Maria Chin Abdullah from Malaysia, Tep Vanny from Cambodia, Leila de Lima from Philippines and Wai Wai Nuwho from Myanmar have faced harassment, threats, imprisonment, and violence for standing up for human rights in the region.
Since her arrest and prior to her trial, many foreign governments and a number of international human rights organizations including Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders called on Vietnam’s communist government to immediately and unconditionally release her and other activists who have been imprisoned just because of exercising the right of freedom of expression which is enshrined in the country’s 2013 Constitution.
The arrest and sentence of Nga are part of Vietnam’s intensified crackdown against local dissidents, human rights advocates, social activists and bloggers. She is the second rights campaigner having sentenced to lengthy imprisonment. In late June, Vietnam also sentenced prominent human rights defender Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh to ten years on charges of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code.
Since the beginning of 2016 when the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam elected the country’s new leadership, Vietnam has arrested and sentenced dozens of activists, including Luu Van Vinh, Hoang Duc Binh, Can Thi Theu, Nguyen Van Oai, Nguyen Van Hoa. Vietnam detained prominent human rights attorney Nguyen Van Dai and his assistant Le Thu Ha in late 2015 and still hold them for investigation on allegation of “conducting anti-state propaganda.”
On July 24, Vietnam arrested activist Le Dinh Luong and will prosecute him for “Carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration” under Article 79 of the Penal Code.
More than 100 Vietnamese activities are imprisoned in the country, according to international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Vietnam always denies of holding any prisoners of conscience but only law violators.
The story was posted on our website: /2017/07/25/second-vietnam-human-rights-defender-sentenced-with-heavy-sentence-within-one-month-amid-increasing-crackdown/
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Amnesty International, CPJ Slam 9-Year Verdict for Activist Tran Thi Nga
Defend the Defenders: The London-based Amnesty International (AI) and the Committee to Protect Journalists have protested against the Vietnamese court’s verdict of nine years in jail and five years of probation handed down to activist Tran Thi Nga on charge of propaganda against the state.
AI said this is an inhumane verdict and it called on Vietnam to immediately annul it because Ms. Nga has only been peacefully protesting for human rights.
According to Mr. Josef Benedic, AI’s Deputy Director for Campaigns – Southeast Asia & Pacific, this is the second verdict that Vietnam’s courts have handed down for female human rights defenders in one month.
Meanwhile, Shawn Crispin, a senior Southeast Asia representative of CPJ, called on Vietnam to terminate crackdown on brave bloggers like Ms. Tran Thi Nga.
According to AI, more than 90 prisoners of conscience are in Vietnamese prisons and the list could lengthen further. CPJ’s statistics showed that Vietnam has jailed at least eight journalists since 2016.
===== July 26 =====
U.S., EU Condemn Conviction of Dissident Blogger Tran Thi Nga, Urging Vietnam to Release Her
Defend the Defenders: The U.S. and the EU have criticized Vietnam over the conviction of human rights defender Tran Thi Nga, demanding for her immediate and unconditional release.
The moves were made on July 26, one day after the People’s Court in the northern province of Ha Nam found Ms. Nga guilty on allegation of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the country’s 1999 Penal Code and gave her nine years in prison and an additional five years under house arrest.
In his statement released on the website of the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, Ambassador Ted Osius said “I am deeply concerned that a Vietnamese court has convicted peaceful activist Tran Thi Nga to nine years in prison and five years of probation under the vague charge of “propaganda against the State”.”
Reiterating that all people have the right to the fundamental freedoms of expression, association, and of peaceful assembly, Ambassador Osius said the trend of increased arrests, convictions, and harsh sentences of peaceful activists in Vietnam since early 2016 is deeply troubling.
The U.S. calls on Vietnam to release Tran Thi Nga and all other prisoners of conscience, and to allow all individuals in Vietnam to express their views freely and assemble peacefully without fear of retribution. It also urges Hanoi to ensure its actions and laws, including the Penal Code, are consistent with the human rights provisions of Vietnam’s constitution and its international obligations and commitments.
In his message released on the same day, Head of the EU Delegation to Vietnam Bruno Angelet said the conviction of Nga for her peaceful expression on labor and land rights directly contradicts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Vietnam is a party.
Freedoms of opinion and expression are fundamental rights, indispensable for individual dignity and fulfillment, as also enshrined in Article 25 of Vietnam’s 2013 Constitution, the ambassador said. It would be just to release unconditionally Ms. Nga, said the diplomat from the 28-nation bloc in Vietnam.
Ambassador Angelet said that the decision by the Vietnamese authorities not to allow representatives of the EU Delegation and those of the EU Member States’ embassies to observe the trial raises questions as to the transparency of the process.
The European Union will continue to monitor the human rights situation in Vietnam, and work with the authorities towards improving the human rights situation in the country, he concluded.
The conviction of Nga has met strong protest worldwide. Few hours after the trial ended, Amnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists issued their statements protesting against the Vietnamese court’s verdict. Amnesty International said this is an inhumane verdict and it called on Vietnam to immediately annul it because Ms. Nga has only been peacefully protesting for human rights while the Committee to Protect Journalists called on Vietnam to terminate crackdown on brave bloggers like Ms. Nga.
Meanwhile, Phan Van Phong, the partner of Ms. Nga and the father of her two children, said on social media that on July 26, he brought two children of seven and four years to Ha Nam detention facility where Nga is held to demand to meet her and supply foodstuff. However, local authorities said Nga was being disciplined and was not allowed receive family’s support nor meet them for being stubborn and for not confessing to wrongdoings. However, at the time, they did not unveil how long the punishment against the human rights advocate would be.
In Vietnam, prisoners subject to discipline action normally is jailed in a solitary cell which lacks basic necessities, their legs shackled, being denied from family visits. Discipline period normally lasts ten days.
Vietnam prisons often apply discipline measures against prisoners of conscience when needed, to destroy their spirit and their ideals, said former political prisoners.
===== July 28 =====
Police in HCM City Beat Son, Detain Daughter-in-law of Arrested Political Dissident Le Dinh Luong
Defend the Defenders: On July 28, security forces in Ho Chi Minh City beat Le Dinh Hieu, a son of political Le Dinh Luong who was arrested several days ago, and kidnapped his wife Nguyen Thi Xoan and held her for five hours in police custody; the victims told Defend the Defenders.
When the couple Hieu and Xoan and their 18-month daughter were on their way from the kindergarten to their home in the city in the evening of Friday, a group of plainclothes agents stopped them and kidnapped the wife.
They took the wife to a police station in Ward 8, Go Vap district and interrogated her for voicing to demand immediate and unconditional release of her father-in-law, who was also kidnapped by security forces in the central province of Nghe An on July 24 and later was charged with “Carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration” under Article 79 of the 1999 Penal Code.
Xoan refused to commit any wrongdoings during the interrogation. Police forcedly took her finger prints despite her strong resistance.
When Hieu with their baby came to the police facility to demand for meeting with his wife, he was beaten by six plainclothes officers who also robbed his cell phone. The baby was also beaten, falling in loud cry. Due to the attacks, Hieu sustained severe injuries in his head, arms and back.
Xoan asked police officers to permit her to feed her baby, however, they rejected.
Being informed about the illegal acts of the local police, many activists in HCM City gathered in the front of the police building to demand Xoan’s release. At around 11 PM, Xoan was released. She said she was not supplied food and drink during the detention and police did not allow her to meet with her baby which is still in breastfeeding period.
After the detention of her father-in-law four days earlier, Xoan has actively voiced for his release, condemning the communist government for arbitrary arrest.
Meanwhile, on July 26, two days after kidnapping Mr. Luong, Nghe An police officially charged him with subversion under Article 79 of the Penal Code. Luong, 52, is facing long-term imprisonment of between twelve and twenty years of imprisonment, life imprisonment or capital punishment if is convicted, according to the Vietnamese current law.
State media reported that Mr. Luong is an extremely dangerous element belonging to the U.S.-based Viet Tan (Vietnam Reform Party) which is labeled by Vietnamese authorities as a terrorist organization.
According to the Nghe An police, Mr. Luong once called for boycotting the elections of the parliament and local People’s Councils while capitalizing on the environmental disasters caused by Formosa to cause social disorders and instigate demonstrations.
Luong is an army veteran who joined the battle against Chinese invaders in Vietnam’s northernmost region in 1980s.
The arrest of Luong is part of Vietnam’s intensified crackdown against local political dissidents, human rights advocates, social activists and online bloggers.
In late June, Vietnam sentenced prominent human rights defender Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh to ten years in jail and today, it will try Tran Thi Nga, another human rights advocate. Both are charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article of Penal Code.
More than 100 Vietnamese activities are imprisoned in the country, according to international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Prominent human rights attorney Nguyen Van Dai and his assistant Le Thu Ha, medical doctor Ho Hai were arrested in late 2015 without being taken to court on allegation of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code. Others arrested with the same charges are Nguyen Van Hoa, Nguyen Van Oai and Tran Hoang Phuc while Luu Van Vinh and his friends were arrested last year and charged with subversion per Article 79.
——————–
UN Concerned about Intensifying Crackdown against Vietnam Human Rights Defenders
UN Human Rights- Asia: We are concerned about the intensifying crackdown against human rights defenders in Vietnam who have questioned or criticised the Government and its policies.
On Tuesday, a well-known activist, Tran Thi Nga, was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment and five years’ house arrest for so-called “anti-State propaganda” over comments posted online. We have serious concerns about the severity of the sentence and the conduct of the trial, which does not appear to have met due process standards. In accordance with provisions of article 88 of the Penal Code, Tran was kept in incommunicado detention for some six months, from her arrest in January until a few days before the trial. Tran was not allowed adequate time to prepare her defence, the trial lasted just one day and her family and friends were denied entry to the courtroom.
Tran Thi Nga’s sentence comes less than a month after another prominent blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, a.k.a Mother Mushroom, was jailed for 10 years, also under article 88, following similarly flawed judicial proceedings.
Over the last six months, at least seven other human rights defenders have been arrested and face prosecution, several dozen are currently detained, and two have been deported or sent into exile abroad. Many others have been intimidated, harassed and brutally beaten. Human rights defenders should never be treated as criminals who are a threat to national security.
The UN Human Rights Office and international human rights mechanisms have repeatedly denounced article 88 of the Penal Code, along with several other provisions of the Code, as being in breach of international human rights law. The Vietnamese Government’s failure to address the concerns of the international community about restrictions on fundamental freedoms raises doubts about its commitment to protect and promote human rights.
We urge the Vietnamese authorities to immediately release all those detained in connection with their exercise of their rights to freedom of expression, and to amend the overly broad ill-defined laws that are used – under the pretext of national security – to crack down on dissent.
– Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, News Briefing, UN Office, Geneva
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U.N. urges Vietnam to release blogger jailed for nine years
Reuters: The United Nations called on Vietnam on Friday to release a prominent dissident who was jailed for nine years this week, according to her lawyer, after a one-day trial for spreading propaganda against the state.
The severity of the sentence passed on blogger Tran Thi Nga and the conduct of her trial did not meet the standards of due process and provoked “serious concerns”, U.N. human rights spokeswoman Liz Throssell told a news briefing in Geneva.
Tran, who was also given five years probation, was kept incommunicado in detention for about six months from her arrest in January until a few days before the trial, and not given adequate time to prepare her defence, Throssell said.
Her sentencing came a month after another prominent blogger, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, known as Mother Mushroom, was jailed for 10 years “following similarly flawed judicial proceedings”, she said.
In the last six months, at least seven other activists have been arrested and face prosecution, she said. Several dozen are currently detained and four have been deported or sent into exile in France or the United States since 2014, she added.
“We urge the Vietnamese authorities to immediately release all those detained in connection with their exercise of their rights to freedom of expression,” Throssell said.
===== July 29 =====
Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh Released Four Years Earlier, Flying together with His Family to U.S.
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam’s authorities have released prisoner of conscience Protestant pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh four years earlier before his imprisonment ends, allowing his family to reside to the U.S.
His family, including his wife Tran Thi Hong and four children, were already in the U.S. after a trip with help of the U.S.-based Boat People SOS (BPSOS) and the unsanctioned Vietnam Women for Human Rights, in which Hong is a member.
Pastor Chinh is an outspoken pastor and democracy activist. In October 2004, several hundred paramilitary police and local officials destroyed his private house in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai, which also served as a Mennonite chapel, on charges that he had violated building regulations. In the following years, pastor Chinh and his wife faced continuing harassment and even beatings by police.
He was arrested in 2011 and charged with “Undermining the unity policy” under Article 87 of Vietnam’s 1999 Penal Code. In March 2012, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison as the Vietnamese government alleged that pastor Chinh had given interviews to foreign media and posted articles on the Internet designed to cause divisiveness both within the country, and between Vietnam and other countries.
While serving his imprisonment in the past seven years, Chinh and his family had been subject of torture and inhumane treatment of Vietnam’s authorities.
Food delivered for him was substandard and sometime mixed with tiny metal particles while his drink was likely contaminated with harmful substances. He was often imprisoned in a solitary cell, and sometimes beaten by other inmates sent by the prison’s authorities.
He was transferred to prisons far from his family which was not informed about the transfers.
While taking care of their four children, his wife had also been harassed by authorities in the Central Highlands of Gia Lai. Last year, after Hong met with U.S. officials on religious freedom, she was summoned many times to a local police station where she was interrogated and beaten by police officers.
Several months ago, police falsely told pastor Chinh that his wife had been unfaithful with another man, showing faked pictures to him to convince him that “she is committing adultery with a man” in a bid to separate their family and force him to accept his crimes as a condition for his freedom.
The police’s harassment against Chinh and his family has encouraged human rights activists, religious leaders and lawmakers from across the world to lobby the Vietnamese government for the pastor’s release.
Pastor Chinh is among a number of political prisoners living in exile. Others include France-trained legal expert Dr. Cu Huy Ha Vu, prominent independent journalists Nguyen Van Hai (aka Dieu Cay) and Ta Phong Tan, and Dang Xuan Dieu after serving long-term imprisonment in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s communist government has intensified crackdown against local political dissidents, human rights campaigners, social and environmental activists. Along with arrests and heavy sentences, activists in Vietnam have also faced intimidation, persecution and harassment and are subjects of physical attacks conducted by plainclothes agents.
For older news on Mr. Chinh and his family, please visit: /category/nguyen-cong-chinh-nguyen-thanh-long/
===== July 30 =====
Vietnam Arrests Four Activists, Charging Six with Subversion
Defend the Defenders: On July 30, the Security Investigation Agency of Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security carried out arrests of four activists namely Pham Van Troi, Nguyen Trung Ton, Truong Minh Duc and Nguyen Bac Truyen, charging them with “Carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration” under Article 79 of Vietnam’s 1999 Penal Code.
The detainees will be held incommunicado in the next four months for investigation on the case in which involve prominent human rights attorney Nguyen Van Dai and his assistant Ms. Le Thu Ha who were arrested on December 16, 2015 and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code, the ministry said on its website.
In the morning of Sunday, the agency carried out the arrests of Mr. Ton, Mr. Duc and Mr. Troi at their private residences, and conducted house search, taking away a number of their personnel items, including Bible books of Mr. Ton, who is a Protestant pastor. Meanwhile, Mr. Truyen, head of Vietnamese Political & Religious Prisoners Friendship Association, was reported to have been gone missing when he was waiting for his wife at a gate of the Ky Dong Redemptory’s Church in Ho Chi Minh City in the morning of the day. His wife failed to contact with him by phone so she supposed he was kidnapped by local security forces.
All of the detainees are former prisoners of conscience. Mr. Troi is a former president of Brotherhood of Democracy formed by Mr. Dai while Mr. Ton is the organization’s incumbent president and Mr. Duc is his deputy responsible for the southern region. Duc is also a senior staff of the Viet Labor Movement.
The six activists face imprisonment of between twelve and twenty years of imprisonment, life imprisonment or capital punishment if are convicted, according to the country’s current law.
Mr. Ton, 45, was a prisoner of conscience. He was arrested in 2011 and sentenced to two years in prison on charges of “anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code. Released in early 2013, he has continued to fight for human rights and multi-party democracy. Recently, he was elected as the head of the Brotherhood for Democracy.
In recent years, Mr. Ton and his family have been constantly harassed by local authorities in Thanh Hoa province. In addition to publicly defaming him through local media, the radio and loudspeakers in his neighborhood, plainclothes agents have disrupted the business of his wife at a local wet market. They even destroyed her booth of seafood products.
In late February, Ton and his friend were kidnapped, robbed and brutally beaten by plainclothes agents in the central province of Quang Binh. His legs were broken as the kidnappers used wooden sticks to beat him. He is still under special treatment for injuries sustaining from the attack after long spending in hospitals for surgery operation for his legs.
Mr. Troi, 46, was arrested in 2008 and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code. Later, he was sentenced to four years in prison and additional four years under house arrest.
After being released in September 2012, he has continued to work for promoting human rights and multi-party democracy. In 2014-2016, he was president of the unsanctioned Brotherhood for Democracy founded by imprisoned human right lawyer Nguyen Van Dai.
Mr. Duc, 57, was arrested in 2007 and later sentenced to five years in prison on allegation of “abusing democratic freedom” under Article 258 of the Penal Code. After being released in May 2012, he has been under constant persecution, including physical attacks. Currently, he is vice president of Viet Labor Movement. Hoang Duc Binh, vice president of the movement, was arrested on May 15 and charged with “resisting persons in the performance of their official duties” under Article 257 and “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the state, the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and/or citizens” under Article 258 of the Penal Code.
Meanwhile, Mr. Truyen, 49, has been beaten many times by thugs since being released in May 2010. In 2006, he was arrested and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88. Later he was sentenced to 3.5 years.
The arrests and allegations are part of Vietnam’s intensifying crackdown against local political dissidents, human rights advocates, social activists and independent bloggers amid increasing social dissatisfaction on systemic corruption, economic mismanagement, heavy environmental pollution and other problems that the Southeast Asian nation is facing.
On July 26, police in the central province of Nghe An arrested Le Dinh Luong and charged him with “Carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration” under Article 79 of the Penal Code.
Within one month from June 29, Vietnam sentenced two human rights defenders Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh and Tran Thi Nga to nine and ten years in jail, respectively on charges of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code.
Dozens of activists have been arrested and many of them sentenced to heavy imprisonments since the beginning of 2016 when the ruling communist party held its National Congress to elect the new leadership for the 2016-2020 period, with many police generals being selected to key positions of the party and state apparatuses.
The communist government has strived to keep the country under a one-party regime and make all effort to prevent the formation of opposition party.
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Hanoi Police Summon Reporters of Independent Chan Hung Nuoc Viet TV Channel for Interrogation
Defend the Defenders: Security forces in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi have summoned several reporters of the independent Chan Hung Nuoc Viet (Vietnam Revival) Television Channel to local police stations to work on relations with the founder of the channel, imprisoned prisoner of conscience Vu Quang Thuan.
Independent journalists Phan Van Bach, Le Van Dung and Le Trong Hung were asked to be at the Security Investigation Agency under Hanoi’s Department of Public Security next week where they would be requested to answer police’s questions about the channel and his founder, who was arrested on March 2 and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the country’s 1999 Penal Code.
Chan Hung Nuoc Viet TV Channel was created by Mr. Thuan earlier this year as part of activities of Chan Hung Nuoc Viet campaign set up by imprisoned dissident Tran Huynh Duy Thuc more than ten years ago in order to raise awareness of Vietnamese about the country’s issues, including threat of China’s expansionism, unsustainable development, environmental pollution and other issues that the country is facing.
The channel is providing news on social issues, including corruption, power abuse, child molestation, wrongdoings conducted by state officials and other socio-economic issues as well as promote political and civil rights. The reporters use their Facebook accounts to post their live streams production in which they present their reports or invite victims of power abuse to report their cases.
The channel has attracted millions of viewers as it is among few independent news providers in a country where the ruling communist party and its government is strictly supervising media which consists of hundreds of newspapers, television channels and radios which serve as propaganda machine of the party.
Thuan, who is facing heavy sentence of up to 20 years in prison if is convicted, produced numerous video clips on his Facebook account in which he criticized numerous senior leaders of the communist party, including its founder late President Ho Chi Minh. His video clips were fast spread on social network.
Nguyen Van Dien, his assistant, was also detained on the same day and charged with the same allegation.
Vietnams’ government has intensified crackdown against local political dissidents, human rights campaigners, social activists and independent bloggers. Dozens of activists have been detained, imprisoned and harassed since the beginning of 2016 when the ruling party elected the new leadership in which many police generals hold key positions in the party and the state apparatuses.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Vietnam has imprisoned at least eight journalists since early 2016 while Reporters Without Borders ranked Vietnam at 175th position among 180 countries in its 2017 Press Freedom Index.
Last week, Vietnam sentenced human rights activists Tran Thi Nga to nine years in prison and additional five years under house arrest mainly for her video clips on YouTube criticizing the communist party and its government. One month earlier, prominent human rights advocate Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, the well-known blogger with penname Mother Mushroom was imprisoned with 10-year sentence. Both female activists were charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88.
According to Amnesty International, Vietnam is holding at least 112 prisoners of conscience while Human Rights Watch said the nation imprisons over 100 political prisoners. Hanoi has consistently denied this, saying it only detains persons who broke the law.
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July 30, 2017
Vietnam Human Rights Defenders’ Weekly July 24-30, 2017: Vietnam Sentences Tran Thi Nga to Nine Years in Jail, Arrest Five Others on Allegation of Subversion
by Nhan Quyen • DEFENDER’S WEEKLY
Defend the Defenders | July 30, 2017
As part of its intensifying crackdown against local activists, Vietnam sentenced labor and land rights Tran Thi Nga to nine years in prison and additional five years under house arrest, and arrested five others, probing them for allegation of “Carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration” under Article 79 of the 1999 Penal Code.
On July 25, the People’s Court of the southern province of Ha Nam held a one-day trial, finding Nga guilty and put her behind bar. The trial was closed for her relatives and foreign diplomats while many activists were kept away from the court building, some of them were brutally beaten by plainclothes agents.
During the week, the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, the EU, the U.S., Germany and many international human rights organizations and domestic civil organizations condemned Ms. Nga’s conviction, demanding Vietnam to release her immediately and unconditionally.
On July 26, police in Nghe An province kidnapped activist Le Dinh Luong and two days later charged him with subversion. Police also brutally beat his son and detained his daughter-in-law but released her after five hours. She is very active in demanding Luong’s release.
Four days later, the Security Investigation Agency of the Ministry of Public Security arrested four former prisoners of conscience Pham Van Troi, Nguyen Trung Ton, Pham Minh Duc and Nguyen Bac Truyen and will probe them for attempts to overthrow the government in the case involve Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thu Ha, who were detained on December 16, 2015.
Police in Hanoi have issued letters to summon three bloggers of Chan Hung Nuoc Viet (Viet Revival) Television Channel to interrogate them in relations with imprisoned prisoner of conscience Vu Qung Thuan who was arrested in early March and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code.
Activist Nguyen Hieu from Vung Tau city was barbarically beaten by the local police in the late evening of July 24 when he came to support former prisoner of conscience Bui Thi Minh Hang, who was intimidated by police. Hieu was beaten as he tried to use his cell phone to film the police’s harassment against Hang, and handcuffed in a police station for hours before being released at mid-night after other activists came to demand his release.
Vietnam has released prisoner of conscience Protestant pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh four years before his 11-year imprisonments ends. Chinh, who experienced inhuman treatment in prisons in the past seven years, was allowed to go together with his family to the U.S. where they will live in exile. His wife, Mrs. Tran Thi Hong, was also beaten many times by local police in April last year after she met with U.S. diplomats and officials on religious freedom.
===== July 24 =====
One More Vietnamese Activist Detained, Will Be Charged with Attempt to Overthrow Government
Defend the Defenders: On July 24, security forces in Vietnam’s central province of Nghe An detained local activist Le Dinh Luong, saying the detention is based on his recent activities which “aim to overthrow the people’s government and cause social disorders.”
In its press release issued after detaining Mr. Luong, the Investigation Agency under the Nghe An province’s Department of Public Security said it will hold him and prosecute him for “Carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration” under Article 79 of the 1999 Penal Code.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Huan, an activist witnessed the detention said he, Mr. Luong and Mr. Thai Van Hoa visited the family of detained activist Nguyen Van Oai in Hoang Mai town. On their way back to their house, plainclothes agents detained Luong and Hoa at around 2 PM.
Mr. Hoa, a brother of former prisoner of conscience Thai Van Dung said plainclothes agents beat Luong brutally, took him into a car and drove away. Hoa was also taken to a police station and released in early evening of the same day.
Mr. Luong, 52, is a social activist residing in Hop Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district. The army veteran of the war against China’s invasion in the country’s northernmost region in 1980s has been under harassment of the local authorities for long time.
Luong is a Catholic follower in the Vinh Hoa parish. He had provided great supports for families of 14 young Catholic prisoners of conscience from Nghe An. He also assisted local residents to protest illegal fees on education and new-style rural development set by Nghe An authorities as well the right to have more than two children. In addition, he has voiced against the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant which discharged huge amount of toxic industrial waste into the central coastal waters and caused the environmental disaster in the region last year, in which hundreds tons of fisheries were killed.
On August 28, 2015, he and other activists were brutally beaten by police when they visited former prisoners of conscience Tran Minh Nhan in Lam Ha district, Lam Dong province.
Mr. Luong is likely to be held incommunicado for at least four months for investigation and he will face imprisonment of between twelve and twenty years of imprisonment, life imprisonment or capital punishment, according to the current Vietnamese law.
The arrest of Luong is part of Vietnam’s intensified crackdown against local political dissidents, human rights advocates, social activists and online bloggers.
In late June, Vietnam sentenced prominent human rights defender Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh to ten years in jail and today, it will try Tran Thi Nga, another human rights advocate. Both are charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article of Penal Code.
More than 100 Vietnamese activities are imprisoned in the country, according to international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
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Vietnam Activist Beaten, Detained by Police While Picturing Police Harassment against Former Prisoner of Conscience
Defend the Defenders: During the late evening of July 24, activist and blogger Nguyen Hieu from Vietnam’s southern city of Vung Tau was beaten, detained and interrogated by local security forces when he was filming police harassment against former prisoner of conscience Bui Thi Minh Hang.
Around 9 PM of Monday, police in Vung Tau came to the private residence of Bui Thi Minh Hang, who was released on February 11 after 30 months of imprisonment, to demand for administrative checking. Ms. Bui Hang rejected opening her house’s gate to and called for support from local activists.
Informed by the incident, Mr. Hieu, an activist in the city, came to help the former prisoner of conscience. When he arrived to the place, he saw numerous police officers and militia in the front of her house. Hieu used his cell phone to film the scene.
Immediately, police and militia detained him, beating him with their batons until he fell on the ground. Police took him to the local police station in Ward 4 and hand-cuffed him until midnight when other activists came to demand for his release.
Due to the police torture, Hieu suffered from numerous injuries and was taken to a local hospital for emergency.
This is the second attack of Vung Tau police against Hieu. Two weeks ago, he was also beaten by a group of plainclothes agents.
Mr. Hieu is among activists in Vung Tau participating in peaceful demonstrations against child molestation, China’s violations of the Vietnamese sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea) and the Taiwanese Formosa Plastic Group which caused the environmental disaster in the central coastal region by discharging huge volume of toxic industrial waste into the local waters.
He has also provided assistance for other activists, including Ms. Hang when she came back from prison. Hang was a former prisoner of conscience, sentenced to 30 months in jail for her activities which aims to promote human rights and protest China’s expansionism in the East Sea.
Due to his activism, police asked his landlord to terminate apartment hiring contract and sent plainclothes agents to assault him in early July.
Along with detention and prison, Vietnamese activists are facing physical persecution of local security forces. Numerous political dissidents, human rights advocates, social activists and online bloggers have been assaulted by police officers and plainclothes agents.
Last month, Human Rights Watch released its report documenting 36 attacks of Vietnamese police and plainclothes agents against 45 activists in the period between the beginning of 2016 and April 2017. In many cases, victims suffered from sustained severe injuries as a result of the crackdown.
===== July 25 =====
Second Vietnam Human Rights Defender Sentenced with Heavy Sentence within One Month amid Increasing Crackdown
Defend the Defenders: On July 25, the People’s Court in Vietnam’s northern province of Ha Nam sentenced human rights defender Tran Thi Nga to nine years in prison and additional five years under house arrest on charge of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the country’s 1999 Penal Code.
The sentence was based mainly on numerous video clips in which she condemned human rights violations conducted by Vietnam’s authorities and criticized state officials for systemic corruption, land grabbing, economic mismanagement and weak response to China’s violations of the country’s sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea).
None of Ms. Nga’s relatives were allowed to attend the open court which is closed for domestic reporters and foreign journalists while diplomats from many EU countries were denied to have access to the trial. Many activists came to the province to support her but they were kept away from the court building.
Local authorities deployed a large number of police officers, mobile police, plainclothes agents and militia to the court areas. They beat a number of activists including Trinh Dinh Hoa, Nguyen Tuan Nghia, and Hoang Lan (see video https://www.facebook.com/thanhnienconggiao/videos/1386960118039791/?hc_ref=ARR3GElfKnh893cUCDchYplAr4ZyBlzKSdfuEtcw0pQSN4Pd2f64-Jh2ZLV6HIa4yhI&pnref=story).
Ms. Nga, a mother of four children, two of them are seven and four years old, was arrested on January 21. She was kept incommunicado until recently when she was permitted to meet with her lawyers to prepare for her defense. She has not been allowed to meet with her kids since being detained while her partner can only send some supplements for her monthly.
Ms. Nga was a migrant worker in Taiwan. While working there, she assisted Vietnamese workers to demand Vietnamese brokers to take responsibility to ensure the rights of migrant workers.
Upon her return to Vietnam, about ten years ago, she has assisted land petitioners who lost their land due to illegal seizure from local authorities.
She also participated in many anti-China demonstrations in Hanoi from 2011 to 2016 to protest China’s violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea), as well as in peaceful gatherings to demand multi-party democracy.
Due to her activities, Vietnam’s communist government, particularly authorities in Ha Nam province have constantly harassed and persecuted her and her two children. She was detained many times and was placed under de facto house arrest for most of the last two years.
In May 2014, she was attacked by plainclothes agents in Hanoi who broke her right leg and caused a number of severe injuries to her body.
Police in Ha Nam also targeted her kids, throwing dirty sauce containing decaying shrimp at them. Her private residence in Phu Ly city was attacked with paint and dirty substances many times.
Ms. Nga is among six distinguished women human rights activists in Southeast Asia the London-based NGO Amnesty International recognized their works on the occasion of International Women’s Day (March 8) this year. Nga, Sirikan Charoensiri from Thailand, Maria Chin Abdullah from Malaysia, Tep Vanny from Cambodia, Leila de Lima from Philippines and Wai Wai Nuwho from Myanmar have faced harassment, threats, imprisonment, and violence for standing up for human rights in the region.
Since her arrest and prior to her trial, many foreign governments and a number of international human rights organizations including Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders called on Vietnam’s communist government to immediately and unconditionally release her and other activists who have been imprisoned just because of exercising the right of freedom of expression which is enshrined in the country’s 2013 Constitution.
The arrest and sentence of Nga are part of Vietnam’s intensified crackdown against local dissidents, human rights advocates, social activists and bloggers. She is the second rights campaigner having sentenced to lengthy imprisonment. In late June, Vietnam also sentenced prominent human rights defender Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh to ten years on charges of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code.
Since the beginning of 2016 when the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam elected the country’s new leadership, Vietnam has arrested and sentenced dozens of activists, including Luu Van Vinh, Hoang Duc Binh, Can Thi Theu, Nguyen Van Oai, Nguyen Van Hoa. Vietnam detained prominent human rights attorney Nguyen Van Dai and his assistant Le Thu Ha in late 2015 and still hold them for investigation on allegation of “conducting anti-state propaganda.”
On July 24, Vietnam arrested activist Le Dinh Luong and will prosecute him for “Carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration” under Article 79 of the Penal Code.
More than 100 Vietnamese activities are imprisoned in the country, according to international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Vietnam always denies of holding any prisoners of conscience but only law violators.
The story was posted on our website: /2017/07/25/second-vietnam-human-rights-defender-sentenced-with-heavy-sentence-within-one-month-amid-increasing-crackdown/
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Amnesty International, CPJ Slam 9-Year Verdict for Activist Tran Thi Nga
Defend the Defenders: The London-based Amnesty International (AI) and the Committee to Protect Journalists have protested against the Vietnamese court’s verdict of nine years in jail and five years of probation handed down to activist Tran Thi Nga on charge of propaganda against the state.
AI said this is an inhumane verdict and it called on Vietnam to immediately annul it because Ms. Nga has only been peacefully protesting for human rights.
According to Mr. Josef Benedic, AI’s Deputy Director for Campaigns – Southeast Asia & Pacific, this is the second verdict that Vietnam’s courts have handed down for female human rights defenders in one month.
Meanwhile, Shawn Crispin, a senior Southeast Asia representative of CPJ, called on Vietnam to terminate crackdown on brave bloggers like Ms. Tran Thi Nga.
According to AI, more than 90 prisoners of conscience are in Vietnamese prisons and the list could lengthen further. CPJ’s statistics showed that Vietnam has jailed at least eight journalists since 2016.
===== July 26 =====
U.S., EU Condemn Conviction of Dissident Blogger Tran Thi Nga, Urging Vietnam to Release Her
Defend the Defenders: The U.S. and the EU have criticized Vietnam over the conviction of human rights defender Tran Thi Nga, demanding for her immediate and unconditional release.
The moves were made on July 26, one day after the People’s Court in the northern province of Ha Nam found Ms. Nga guilty on allegation of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the country’s 1999 Penal Code and gave her nine years in prison and an additional five years under house arrest.
In his statement released on the website of the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, Ambassador Ted Osius said “I am deeply concerned that a Vietnamese court has convicted peaceful activist Tran Thi Nga to nine years in prison and five years of probation under the vague charge of “propaganda against the State”.”
Reiterating that all people have the right to the fundamental freedoms of expression, association, and of peaceful assembly, Ambassador Osius said the trend of increased arrests, convictions, and harsh sentences of peaceful activists in Vietnam since early 2016 is deeply troubling.
The U.S. calls on Vietnam to release Tran Thi Nga and all other prisoners of conscience, and to allow all individuals in Vietnam to express their views freely and assemble peacefully without fear of retribution. It also urges Hanoi to ensure its actions and laws, including the Penal Code, are consistent with the human rights provisions of Vietnam’s constitution and its international obligations and commitments.
In his message released on the same day, Head of the EU Delegation to Vietnam Bruno Angelet said the conviction of Nga for her peaceful expression on labor and land rights directly contradicts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Vietnam is a party.
Freedoms of opinion and expression are fundamental rights, indispensable for individual dignity and fulfillment, as also enshrined in Article 25 of Vietnam’s 2013 Constitution, the ambassador said. It would be just to release unconditionally Ms. Nga, said the diplomat from the 28-nation bloc in Vietnam.
Ambassador Angelet said that the decision by the Vietnamese authorities not to allow representatives of the EU Delegation and those of the EU Member States’ embassies to observe the trial raises questions as to the transparency of the process.
The European Union will continue to monitor the human rights situation in Vietnam, and work with the authorities towards improving the human rights situation in the country, he concluded.
The conviction of Nga has met strong protest worldwide. Few hours after the trial ended, Amnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists issued their statements protesting against the Vietnamese court’s verdict. Amnesty International said this is an inhumane verdict and it called on Vietnam to immediately annul it because Ms. Nga has only been peacefully protesting for human rights while the Committee to Protect Journalists called on Vietnam to terminate crackdown on brave bloggers like Ms. Nga.
Meanwhile, Phan Van Phong, the partner of Ms. Nga and the father of her two children, said on social media that on July 26, he brought two children of seven and four years to Ha Nam detention facility where Nga is held to demand to meet her and supply foodstuff. However, local authorities said Nga was being disciplined and was not allowed receive family’s support nor meet them for being stubborn and for not confessing to wrongdoings. However, at the time, they did not unveil how long the punishment against the human rights advocate would be.
In Vietnam, prisoners subject to discipline action normally is jailed in a solitary cell which lacks basic necessities, their legs shackled, being denied from family visits. Discipline period normally lasts ten days.
Vietnam prisons often apply discipline measures against prisoners of conscience when needed, to destroy their spirit and their ideals, said former political prisoners.
===== July 28 =====
Police in HCM City Beat Son, Detain Daughter-in-law of Arrested Political Dissident Le Dinh Luong
Defend the Defenders: On July 28, security forces in Ho Chi Minh City beat Le Dinh Hieu, a son of political Le Dinh Luong who was arrested several days ago, and kidnapped his wife Nguyen Thi Xoan and held her for five hours in police custody; the victims told Defend the Defenders.
When the couple Hieu and Xoan and their 18-month daughter were on their way from the kindergarten to their home in the city in the evening of Friday, a group of plainclothes agents stopped them and kidnapped the wife.
They took the wife to a police station in Ward 8, Go Vap district and interrogated her for voicing to demand immediate and unconditional release of her father-in-law, who was also kidnapped by security forces in the central province of Nghe An on July 24 and later was charged with “Carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration” under Article 79 of the 1999 Penal Code.
Xoan refused to commit any wrongdoings during the interrogation. Police forcedly took her finger prints despite her strong resistance.
When Hieu with their baby came to the police facility to demand for meeting with his wife, he was beaten by six plainclothes officers who also robbed his cell phone. The baby was also beaten, falling in loud cry. Due to the attacks, Hieu sustained severe injuries in his head, arms and back.
Xoan asked police officers to permit her to feed her baby, however, they rejected.
Being informed about the illegal acts of the local police, many activists in HCM City gathered in the front of the police building to demand Xoan’s release. At around 11 PM, Xoan was released. She said she was not supplied food and drink during the detention and police did not allow her to meet with her baby which is still in breastfeeding period.
After the detention of her father-in-law four days earlier, Xoan has actively voiced for his release, condemning the communist government for arbitrary arrest.
Meanwhile, on July 26, two days after kidnapping Mr. Luong, Nghe An police officially charged him with subversion under Article 79 of the Penal Code. Luong, 52, is facing long-term imprisonment of between twelve and twenty years of imprisonment, life imprisonment or capital punishment if is convicted, according to the Vietnamese current law.
State media reported that Mr. Luong is an extremely dangerous element belonging to the U.S.-based Viet Tan (Vietnam Reform Party) which is labeled by Vietnamese authorities as a terrorist organization.
According to the Nghe An police, Mr. Luong once called for boycotting the elections of the parliament and local People’s Councils while capitalizing on the environmental disasters caused by Formosa to cause social disorders and instigate demonstrations.
Luong is an army veteran who joined the battle against Chinese invaders in Vietnam’s northernmost region in 1980s.
The arrest of Luong is part of Vietnam’s intensified crackdown against local political dissidents, human rights advocates, social activists and online bloggers.
In late June, Vietnam sentenced prominent human rights defender Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh to ten years in jail and today, it will try Tran Thi Nga, another human rights advocate. Both are charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article of Penal Code.
More than 100 Vietnamese activities are imprisoned in the country, according to international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Prominent human rights attorney Nguyen Van Dai and his assistant Le Thu Ha, medical doctor Ho Hai were arrested in late 2015 without being taken to court on allegation of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code. Others arrested with the same charges are Nguyen Van Hoa, Nguyen Van Oai and Tran Hoang Phuc while Luu Van Vinh and his friends were arrested last year and charged with subversion per Article 79.
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UN Concerned about Intensifying Crackdown against Vietnam Human Rights Defenders
UN Human Rights- Asia: We are concerned about the intensifying crackdown against human rights defenders in Vietnam who have questioned or criticised the Government and its policies.
On Tuesday, a well-known activist, Tran Thi Nga, was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment and five years’ house arrest for so-called “anti-State propaganda” over comments posted online. We have serious concerns about the severity of the sentence and the conduct of the trial, which does not appear to have met due process standards. In accordance with provisions of article 88 of the Penal Code, Tran was kept in incommunicado detention for some six months, from her arrest in January until a few days before the trial. Tran was not allowed adequate time to prepare her defence, the trial lasted just one day and her family and friends were denied entry to the courtroom.
Tran Thi Nga’s sentence comes less than a month after another prominent blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, a.k.a Mother Mushroom, was jailed for 10 years, also under article 88, following similarly flawed judicial proceedings.
Over the last six months, at least seven other human rights defenders have been arrested and face prosecution, several dozen are currently detained, and two have been deported or sent into exile abroad. Many others have been intimidated, harassed and brutally beaten. Human rights defenders should never be treated as criminals who are a threat to national security.
The UN Human Rights Office and international human rights mechanisms have repeatedly denounced article 88 of the Penal Code, along with several other provisions of the Code, as being in breach of international human rights law. The Vietnamese Government’s failure to address the concerns of the international community about restrictions on fundamental freedoms raises doubts about its commitment to protect and promote human rights.
We urge the Vietnamese authorities to immediately release all those detained in connection with their exercise of their rights to freedom of expression, and to amend the overly broad ill-defined laws that are used – under the pretext of national security – to crack down on dissent.
– Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, News Briefing, UN Office, Geneva
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U.N. urges Vietnam to release blogger jailed for nine years
Reuters: The United Nations called on Vietnam on Friday to release a prominent dissident who was jailed for nine years this week, according to her lawyer, after a one-day trial for spreading propaganda against the state.
The severity of the sentence passed on blogger Tran Thi Nga and the conduct of her trial did not meet the standards of due process and provoked “serious concerns”, U.N. human rights spokeswoman Liz Throssell told a news briefing in Geneva.
Tran, who was also given five years probation, was kept incommunicado in detention for about six months from her arrest in January until a few days before the trial, and not given adequate time to prepare her defence, Throssell said.
Her sentencing came a month after another prominent blogger, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, known as Mother Mushroom, was jailed for 10 years “following similarly flawed judicial proceedings”, she said.
In the last six months, at least seven other activists have been arrested and face prosecution, she said. Several dozen are currently detained and four have been deported or sent into exile in France or the United States since 2014, she added.
“We urge the Vietnamese authorities to immediately release all those detained in connection with their exercise of their rights to freedom of expression,” Throssell said.
===== July 29 =====
Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh Released Four Years Earlier, Flying together with His Family to U.S.
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam’s authorities have released prisoner of conscience Protestant pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh four years earlier before his imprisonment ends, allowing his family to reside to the U.S.
His family, including his wife Tran Thi Hong and four children, were already in the U.S. after a trip with help of the U.S.-based Boat People SOS (BPSOS) and the unsanctioned Vietnam Women for Human Rights, in which Hong is a member.
Pastor Chinh is an outspoken pastor and democracy activist. In October 2004, several hundred paramilitary police and local officials destroyed his private house in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai, which also served as a Mennonite chapel, on charges that he had violated building regulations. In the following years, pastor Chinh and his wife faced continuing harassment and even beatings by police.
He was arrested in 2011 and charged with “Undermining the unity policy” under Article 87 of Vietnam’s 1999 Penal Code. In March 2012, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison as the Vietnamese government alleged that pastor Chinh had given interviews to foreign media and posted articles on the Internet designed to cause divisiveness both within the country, and between Vietnam and other countries.
While serving his imprisonment in the past seven years, Chinh and his family had been subject of torture and inhumane treatment of Vietnam’s authorities.
Food delivered for him was substandard and sometime mixed with tiny metal particles while his drink was likely contaminated with harmful substances. He was often imprisoned in a solitary cell, and sometimes beaten by other inmates sent by the prison’s authorities.
He was transferred to prisons far from his family which was not informed about the transfers.
While taking care of their four children, his wife had also been harassed by authorities in the Central Highlands of Gia Lai. Last year, after Hong met with U.S. officials on religious freedom, she was summoned many times to a local police station where she was interrogated and beaten by police officers.
Several months ago, police falsely told pastor Chinh that his wife had been unfaithful with another man, showing faked pictures to him to convince him that “she is committing adultery with a man” in a bid to separate their family and force him to accept his crimes as a condition for his freedom.
The police’s harassment against Chinh and his family has encouraged human rights activists, religious leaders and lawmakers from across the world to lobby the Vietnamese government for the pastor’s release.
Pastor Chinh is among a number of political prisoners living in exile. Others include France-trained legal expert Dr. Cu Huy Ha Vu, prominent independent journalists Nguyen Van Hai (aka Dieu Cay) and Ta Phong Tan, and Dang Xuan Dieu after serving long-term imprisonment in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s communist government has intensified crackdown against local political dissidents, human rights campaigners, social and environmental activists. Along with arrests and heavy sentences, activists in Vietnam have also faced intimidation, persecution and harassment and are subjects of physical attacks conducted by plainclothes agents.
For older news on Mr. Chinh and his family, please visit: /category/nguyen-cong-chinh-nguyen-thanh-long/
===== July 30 =====
Vietnam Arrests Four Activists, Charging Six with Subversion
Defend the Defenders: On July 30, the Security Investigation Agency of Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security carried out arrests of four activists namely Pham Van Troi, Nguyen Trung Ton, Truong Minh Duc and Nguyen Bac Truyen, charging them with “Carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration” under Article 79 of Vietnam’s 1999 Penal Code.
The detainees will be held incommunicado in the next four months for investigation on the case in which involve prominent human rights attorney Nguyen Van Dai and his assistant Ms. Le Thu Ha who were arrested on December 16, 2015 and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code, the ministry said on its website.
In the morning of Sunday, the agency carried out the arrests of Mr. Ton, Mr. Duc and Mr. Troi at their private residences, and conducted house search, taking away a number of their personnel items, including Bible books of Mr. Ton, who is a Protestant pastor. Meanwhile, Mr. Truyen, head of Vietnamese Political & Religious Prisoners Friendship Association, was reported to have been gone missing when he was waiting for his wife at a gate of the Ky Dong Redemptory’s Church in Ho Chi Minh City in the morning of the day. His wife failed to contact with him by phone so she supposed he was kidnapped by local security forces.
All of the detainees are former prisoners of conscience. Mr. Troi is a former president of Brotherhood of Democracy formed by Mr. Dai while Mr. Ton is the organization’s incumbent president and Mr. Duc is his deputy responsible for the southern region. Duc is also a senior staff of the Viet Labor Movement.
The six activists face imprisonment of between twelve and twenty years of imprisonment, life imprisonment or capital punishment if are convicted, according to the country’s current law.
Mr. Ton, 45, was a prisoner of conscience. He was arrested in 2011 and sentenced to two years in prison on charges of “anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code. Released in early 2013, he has continued to fight for human rights and multi-party democracy. Recently, he was elected as the head of the Brotherhood for Democracy.
In recent years, Mr. Ton and his family have been constantly harassed by local authorities in Thanh Hoa province. In addition to publicly defaming him through local media, the radio and loudspeakers in his neighborhood, plainclothes agents have disrupted the business of his wife at a local wet market. They even destroyed her booth of seafood products.
In late February, Ton and his friend were kidnapped, robbed and brutally beaten by plainclothes agents in the central province of Quang Binh. His legs were broken as the kidnappers used wooden sticks to beat him. He is still under special treatment for injuries sustaining from the attack after long spending in hospitals for surgery operation for his legs.
Mr. Troi, 46, was arrested in 2008 and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code. Later, he was sentenced to four years in prison and additional four years under house arrest.
After being released in September 2012, he has continued to work for promoting human rights and multi-party democracy. In 2014-2016, he was president of the unsanctioned Brotherhood for Democracy founded by imprisoned human right lawyer Nguyen Van Dai.
Mr. Duc, 57, was arrested in 2007 and later sentenced to five years in prison on allegation of “abusing democratic freedom” under Article 258 of the Penal Code. After being released in May 2012, he has been under constant persecution, including physical attacks. Currently, he is vice president of Viet Labor Movement. Hoang Duc Binh, vice president of the movement, was arrested on May 15 and charged with “resisting persons in the performance of their official duties” under Article 257 and “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the state, the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and/or citizens” under Article 258 of the Penal Code.
Meanwhile, Mr. Truyen, 49, has been beaten many times by thugs since being released in May 2010. In 2006, he was arrested and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88. Later he was sentenced to 3.5 years.
The arrests and allegations are part of Vietnam’s intensifying crackdown against local political dissidents, human rights advocates, social activists and independent bloggers amid increasing social dissatisfaction on systemic corruption, economic mismanagement, heavy environmental pollution and other problems that the Southeast Asian nation is facing.
On July 26, police in the central province of Nghe An arrested Le Dinh Luong and charged him with “Carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration” under Article 79 of the Penal Code.
Within one month from June 29, Vietnam sentenced two human rights defenders Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh and Tran Thi Nga to nine and ten years in jail, respectively on charges of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code.
Dozens of activists have been arrested and many of them sentenced to heavy imprisonments since the beginning of 2016 when the ruling communist party held its National Congress to elect the new leadership for the 2016-2020 period, with many police generals being selected to key positions of the party and state apparatuses.
The communist government has strived to keep the country under a one-party regime and make all effort to prevent the formation of opposition party.
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Hanoi Police Summon Reporters of Independent Chan Hung Nuoc Viet TV Channel for Interrogation
Defend the Defenders: Security forces in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi have summoned several reporters of the independent Chan Hung Nuoc Viet (Vietnam Revival) Television Channel to local police stations to work on relations with the founder of the channel, imprisoned prisoner of conscience Vu Quang Thuan.
Independent journalists Phan Van Bach, Le Van Dung and Le Trong Hung were asked to be at the Security Investigation Agency under Hanoi’s Department of Public Security next week where they would be requested to answer police’s questions about the channel and his founder, who was arrested on March 2 and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the country’s 1999 Penal Code.
Chan Hung Nuoc Viet TV Channel was created by Mr. Thuan earlier this year as part of activities of Chan Hung Nuoc Viet campaign set up by imprisoned dissident Tran Huynh Duy Thuc more than ten years ago in order to raise awareness of Vietnamese about the country’s issues, including threat of China’s expansionism, unsustainable development, environmental pollution and other issues that the country is facing.
The channel is providing news on social issues, including corruption, power abuse, child molestation, wrongdoings conducted by state officials and other socio-economic issues as well as promote political and civil rights. The reporters use their Facebook accounts to post their live streams production in which they present their reports or invite victims of power abuse to report their cases.
The channel has attracted millions of viewers as it is among few independent news providers in a country where the ruling communist party and its government is strictly supervising media which consists of hundreds of newspapers, television channels and radios which serve as propaganda machine of the party.
Thuan, who is facing heavy sentence of up to 20 years in prison if is convicted, produced numerous video clips on his Facebook account in which he criticized numerous senior leaders of the communist party, including its founder late President Ho Chi Minh. His video clips were fast spread on social network.
Nguyen Van Dien, his assistant, was also detained on the same day and charged with the same allegation.
Vietnams’ government has intensified crackdown against local political dissidents, human rights campaigners, social activists and independent bloggers. Dozens of activists have been detained, imprisoned and harassed since the beginning of 2016 when the ruling party elected the new leadership in which many police generals hold key positions in the party and the state apparatuses.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Vietnam has imprisoned at least eight journalists since early 2016 while Reporters Without Borders ranked Vietnam at 175th position among 180 countries in its 2017 Press Freedom Index.
Last week, Vietnam sentenced human rights activists Tran Thi Nga to nine years in prison and additional five years under house arrest mainly for her video clips on YouTube criticizing the communist party and its government. One month earlier, prominent human rights advocate Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, the well-known blogger with penname Mother Mushroom was imprisoned with 10-year sentence. Both female activists were charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88.
According to Amnesty International, Vietnam is holding at least 112 prisoners of conscience while Human Rights Watch said the nation imprisons over 100 political prisoners. Hanoi has consistently denied this, saying it only detains persons who broke the law.