October 22, 2014

Vietnam Anti-China Activist Freed, Forced to Live in Exile

by • Nguyen Van Hai (Dieu Cay)

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 by Vu Quoc Ngu, Oct 22, 2014
Nguyen Van Hai (aka Dieu Cay), a prominent anti-China activist and human rights advocate, has been released from Vietnam’s prison and forced to go abroad to live in exile, foreign media reported.
Blogger Nguyen Van Hai

Blogger Nguyen Van Hai

Mr. Hai, who was serving a 12-year imprisonment for conducting anti-state activities since 2012, was brought directly from the Nghe An province-based prison to Noi Bai International Airport, where he was forced to take a flight to Germany and then to the U.S., his former wife, Ms. Duong Thi Tan, told foreign media on Tuesday.

Mr. Hai, born in 1952, was a co-founder of the Club for Free Journalists, which was established to promote independent journalism. In November 2013, he was honored with the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists’ International Press Freedom Awards.
He had been held since May 2008. Firstly, Hai was arrested and sentenced to 30 months in jail for fabricated tax evasion allegation. After completing the sentence in 2012, Hai was sentenced to 12 years in prison for conducting anti-state propaganda.
Hai is among high-profile political prisoners that the communist-ruled Vietnam has released as Hanoi is negotiating with the U.S. for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement and full removal of lethal weapon ban and the EU on Free Trade Agreement.
The release, yet to be covered by state-run media, came on the eve of the visit of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Tom Malinowski to Hanoi, where he will discuss the importance of demonstrable progress on human rights to furthering U.S.-Vietnam bilateral ties, including on security assistance and economic cooperation.
After few hours of the release, the U.S. State Department issued a statement welcoming the Vietnamese move. It also urged Hanoi to stop harassment against the government critics and release all prisoners of conscience.
The Vietnamese political dissident, who once was praised by U.S. President Barack Obama, is one of the most vocal activists against China’s violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea.
During his prison term, Hai was treated severely and several times he went on hunger strikes, including the 33-day fast in August 2013, to protest the prison’s inhumane treatment.
Earlier this year, Hanoi released legal expert Cu Huy Ha Vu, teacher Dinh Dang Dinh, former lawmaker Le Van Tinh and some others. Dr. Vu was also forced to go directly from a prison to the U.S., where he is taking medical treatment for his worsened health due to the hard conditions in prison.
Vietnam is still holding nearly 400 political prisoners, including high-ranking dissidents Le Quoc Quan, Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, and Ta Phong Tan, according to international human rights bodies. They were arrested for criticizing government ineffective economic policies, bad human rights situation, rampant corruption, and improper responses to the Chinese violations to the country’s sovereignty and calling to end communist’s dictatorship.

Last week, Vietnamese Defense Minister General Phung Quang Thanh led a high-ranking delegation consisting of 13 generals to visit China, where they agreed with the hosts to “properly control situation in the East Sea to prevent military conflicts” and deepen bilateral defense cooperation.

 

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