September 6, 2014

Đỗ Thị Minh Hạnh taken by Noi Bai Airport police whilst checking in to visit sick mother

by • Do Thi Minh Hanh

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On 3 September 2014, at around 8am, labour activist Đỗ Thị Minh Hạnh was detained at Noibai Airport whilst she was checking in to fly to Austria to visit her very ill mother. Police confiscated her passport and prohibited her from leaving the country.
Do Thi Minh Hanh

Do Thi Minh Hanh

Hạnh had acquired a visa to stay in Austria, from September 3 to October 18. The Austrian government approved her visa for humanitarian reasons. Hạnh had recently reclaimed her passport (that is still valid) in Trà Vinh. The visit had been planned a month prior. Hạnh went to Hanoi a few days before the flight but did not visit any friends; she was worried that visits could bring troubles to her trip.

Đỗ Thị Minh Hạnh is a founding member of the Viet Labor Movement, seeking to fight on behalf of workers’ interests. She was arrested on 23 February 2010, together with two of her peers – Nguyễn Hoàng Quốc Hùng and Đoàn Huy Chương. Hạnh was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment, aged only 26. Over the space of three years, Hạnh was transferred to five different prison camps: Trà Vinh, Long An, Bình Thuận, Đồng Nai and Thanh Xuân.
Hạnh was granted unconditional release on 27 June 2014. Being an unconditional release, there were no house arrest orders, and no restrictions of movement either domestically or internationally. Therefore, according to basic principles and the law of the state, Hạnh has the right to travel anywhere in Vietnam or to any country in the world.
Hạnh was at the airport at 7am on 3 September, waiting to check in at 8:30am. At 8am, airport security detained her, confiscated her passport, and forbid her to exit the country.
Her mother, Trần Thị Ngọc Minh, had suffered grave illnesses within the past month and had undergone vital surgery on 25 July 2014. Presently, she has had three operations, each only 5 days apart. She has stayed in a hospital isolation room for over three weeks. After 28 days in hospital, Ngọc Minh was discharged and has been looked after at home. She will return to hospital for surgeons to stitch up the incision on her neck, as she is now breathing through a breathing tube.
Trần Thị Ngọc Minh suffered from a mouth infection, but as she is diabetic, her eyes and her brain also became infected. She also has to use anti-blood clotting medication while she awaits another hospital visit for her heart. Ngọc Minh fainted upon learning the news that Hạnh was detained at the airport.
Previously, Trần Thị Ngọc Minh had travelled out of Vietnam to many countries, campaigning for her daughter to be released. As the result of her efforts, Đỗ Thị Minh Hạnh was released ahead of her original prison term.
The Austrian government approved Hanh’s visit, allowing her to care for her mother after three years of separation. But the Vietnamese government has treated its citizens differently; by arresting Hạnh and confiscating her passport, they barred a daughter from fulfilling her obligations to her mother.
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