By CHRIS BRUMMITT – ABCnews | April 14, 2014
Vietnam has released two more high-profile dissidents in an unusual move that comes as the country is negotiating a free trade deal with Washington that may not get congressional approval unless Hanoi shows it is improving its human rights record.
Vi Duc Hoi and Nguyen Tien Trung were released over the weekend with 1 ½ years and nine months left of their sentences to serve.
They were each convicted of crimes relating to their peaceful advocacy for multiparty democracy in Vietnam, which is ruled by an authoritarian government that doesn’t allow freedom of expression or political assembly.
“It was due to international pressure that the government of Vietnam had to release me,” Hoi, a former member of the ruling Communist party, told Radio Free Asia, a U.S. government funded media network. “I lost some weight but I am still OK physically and mentally,” he said.
Earlier this month, another prominent activist, Cu Huy Ha Vu, was released and went direct from jail to the United States, which had been privately negotiating for his release. A photo widely distributed on Facebook shows him at an American airport flicking a V-for-victory sign. A U.S. diplomat posted at the embassy in Hanoi was alongside him in the picture.
Phil Robertson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, noted that the two men should never have been imprisoned in the first place.
“There are still hundreds more political prisoners languishing in Vietnam’s prisons, so there is a very long way to go before we can say that Vietnam is making any sort of appreciable progress on human rights,” he said.
The Obama administration is seeking to conclude a trade deal with Vietnam and 10 other Asia-Pacific nations that is seen as vital to boosting American exports in fast-growing markets and demonstrating U.S. economic leadership in a region where China’s influence is ever gaining.
The 12 nations, including Japan, failed to complete the deal by year’s end as hoped, but have since restarted negotiations and hope to conclude soon.
Vietnam’s leaders, mindful of the country’s stumbling economy, want to join the pact because it will boost exports and create jobs.
The United States is seeking to use the prospect of the deal to try and win some concessions on human rights. Representatives of the Obama administrations have said publicly the U.S. Congress, which must vote on the trade pact before it can become binding, might balk at doing so unless Vietnam was able to show progress such as releasing dissidents.
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April 15, 2014
Vietnam Releases Dissidents Amid US Trade Talks
by Nhan Quyen • Cu Huy Ha Vu, Nguyen Tien Trung, Vi Duc Hoi
Vi Duc Hoi and Nguyen Tien Trung were released over the weekend with 1 ½ years and nine months left of their sentences to serve.
They were each convicted of crimes relating to their peaceful advocacy for multiparty democracy in Vietnam, which is ruled by an authoritarian government that doesn’t allow freedom of expression or political assembly.
“It was due to international pressure that the government of Vietnam had to release me,” Hoi, a former member of the ruling Communist party, told Radio Free Asia, a U.S. government funded media network. “I lost some weight but I am still OK physically and mentally,” he said.
Earlier this month, another prominent activist, Cu Huy Ha Vu, was released and went direct from jail to the United States, which had been privately negotiating for his release. A photo widely distributed on Facebook shows him at an American airport flicking a V-for-victory sign. A U.S. diplomat posted at the embassy in Hanoi was alongside him in the picture.
Phil Robertson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, noted that the two men should never have been imprisoned in the first place.
“There are still hundreds more political prisoners languishing in Vietnam’s prisons, so there is a very long way to go before we can say that Vietnam is making any sort of appreciable progress on human rights,” he said.
The Obama administration is seeking to conclude a trade deal with Vietnam and 10 other Asia-Pacific nations that is seen as vital to boosting American exports in fast-growing markets and demonstrating U.S. economic leadership in a region where China’s influence is ever gaining.
The 12 nations, including Japan, failed to complete the deal by year’s end as hoped, but have since restarted negotiations and hope to conclude soon.
Vietnam’s leaders, mindful of the country’s stumbling economy, want to join the pact because it will boost exports and create jobs.
The United States is seeking to use the prospect of the deal to try and win some concessions on human rights. Representatives of the Obama administrations have said publicly the U.S. Congress, which must vote on the trade pact before it can become binding, might balk at doing so unless Vietnam was able to show progress such as releasing dissidents.