Vietnam Police Shortly Detain Activist Returning from Thailand, Confiscating Her Laptop

Ms. Mai Thanh at Noi Bai Airport on Thursday

By Vu Quoc Ngu | Jul 16, 2015

Security forces in the Hanoi-based Noi Bai International Airport on Thursday [July 16] detained a local activist who returned home from Thailand for several hours for questioning, still holding her laptop.

Ms. Mai Thanh, who is a member of the unsanctioned Brotherhood of Democracy, was held by security officers when she arrived in Hanoi from an international flight from Bangkok.

During the five-hour detention, security officers asked Ms. Thanh numerous questions about the purposes of her trip to Bangkok as well as with whom she met. The activist remained silent, saying the trip was her personal matter and cannot share with others.

Finally, police took her laptop despite strong protest from the female pro-democracy activist.

On Sunday [July 12], Vietnam’s security forces barred a number of local activists from taking international flights. Among those were Mrs. Huynh Thuc Vy, the coordinator of the unregistered Vietnamese Women for Human Rights and Mr. Vu Quoc Ngu, a human rights activist well-known with numerous articles reporting human rights violations in Vietnam.

The police in the Ho Chi Minh City-based Tan Son Nhat International Airport even confiscated Mrs. Vy’s passport.

Along with imprisoning and harassing political dissidents and human rights advocates, Vietnam’s security forces have often blocked activists from meeting with foreign diplomats and going abroad to attend international workshops.

According to local network, hundreds of Vietnamese activists have been blocked from going abroad or their passports have been confiscated by police forces who say activists’ foreign trips will harm the country’s security.

A number of activists have been shortly detained and interrogated by Vietnamese security forces after returning from abroad./.