Mr. Hoang Duc Binh, member of Viet Labor, still in detention in HCMC
By Vu Quoc Ngu, Dec 26, 2015
Vietnam’s police nationwide have been intensifying persecutions against local activists ahead of the ruling communist party’s National Congress, targeting political dissidents, social activists and human rights defenders and even their young children.
In Ho Chi Minh City, police on December 25 detained about ten activists, beating them brutally before releasing them.
The incident started on Friday afternoon when police in Hoa Thanh ward, Tan Phu district arrested Mr. Binh, 33, who earlier in the day disseminated leaflets on the rights of independent labor union.
Police detained Mr. Binh and confiscated 3,000 leaflets of independent Viet Labor which contain a statement of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung saying Vietnamese workers have right to form their labor union independent from the government, as the country has committed during negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.
Informed about the detention, a dozen activists in HCMC gathered at the Hoa Thanh police station to demand for the unconditional and immediate release of Mr. Binh. Police rejected their demand, detained many of them and beat them barbarically. Among the victims of police assaults were Ms. Do Thi Minh Hanh, Tran Bang, Pham Van Ngoc Long, Huynh Thanh Phat, Ho Thi Kim Ninh and Vu Ngoc Han.
Police officers broke Ms. Ninh’s left arm while Mr. Long suffered severe injuries in his belly.
In the early hours of Saturday, police released all activists but kept Mr. Binh until afternoon of the same day. Binh, who was said to have vomited after being tortured by police officers in Hoa Thanh ward, is with numerous severe injuries in his body.
Ninh and Long were taken to a local hospital for emergency, activists said.
On Saturday, police continue to harass activists in HCMC, blocking many of them from going out, said Mrs. Pham Thanh Nghien, one of the victims.
This is the second police assault within one month against Ms. Hanh, leader of independent Viet Labor which aims to protect the Vietnamese workers. On November 22, Hanh and her colleague Truong Minh Duc were detained and beaten by police in the southern province of Dong Nai when the duo tried to assist local workers to settle labor disputes with a South Korea-invested firm which fired around two thousand of its workers without proper reasons.
Meanwhile, plainclothes agents in the northern province of Ha Nam targeted land and labor rights activist Tran Thi Nga and her two children, one is five and the other three years of age. When Ms. Nga and her offspring went to celebrate Christmas in her city in the evening of Friday December 25, thugs threw a mess of mam tom (a sauce made by fermented shrimp) at them. Due to the attack, her older son Phu developed numerous nodules on his face while all their clothes and heads were covered with the dirty substance. Nga, who has been a subject of the local police’s torture in recent years, said the local police are responsible for the attack. She also blamed that they tried to organize a “traffic accident” to kill her and the children.
On Monday, a thug attacked Hanoi-based activist Truong Van Dung with liquid acid near the police station in Back Khoa ward in Hai Ba Trung district when he, accompanied by numerous activists and land petitioner, went to the police station to demand for the return of his cell phone and memory cards which the police took from him earlier. Instead of returning his illegally taken items, police deployed numerous thugs to threaten activists and attack him. (For full report of the attack, you can read here: /2015/12/21/hanoi-based-activist-attacked-acid-thugs-near-police-station-five-days-tortured-robbed-policemen/)
Vietnam’s government has intensified its crackdown against local activists several weeks ahead of the ruling communist party’s National Congress slated on Jan 20-28, 2016.
Ten days ago, on December 16, Vietnam arrested human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai and his assistant Le Thu Ha. Police charged Mr. Dai with conducting anti-state propaganda under Article 88 of the country’s Penal Code, which carries a sentence of between three and twelve years.
In mid December, Vietnam also sentenced Nguyen Viet Dung, the founder and leader of the unsanctioned Republican Party of Vietnam to 15 months in jail under the fabricated charge of conducting public disorders during a peaceful demonstration on environmental issues in the capital city of Hanoi.
Responding to the ongoing wave of attacks and arrest against Vietnamese human rights defenders, the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights, the EU, the London-based Amnesty International, the New York-based Human Rights Watch and the Stockholm-based Civil Rights Defenders all urged Vietnam’s government to stop these assaults and bring the perpetrators to justice in line with the country’s international commitments and obligations on human rights.
The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called on “the international community to press the Vietnamese authorities to stop employing these thuggish methods, which have turned Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s administration into a government of gangsters.”
So far, Vietnam’s authorities have rejected allegations that it is supporting these attacks against local activists, saying these assaults were conducted by people from the criminal world. However, they also refused to conduct serious investigations to bring the attackers to justice.
Prominent blogger Truong Minh Nhat, who is a former prisoner of conscience, sarcastically labeled the government-back thugs as the person of the year in 2015.
Vowing to keep the country under a one-party regime, the Vietnamese communist party has requested the security forces to prevent the establishment of opposition parties.
Recently, Minister of Public Security General Tran Dai Quang, who is expected to be promoted to one of the country’s four key leadership positions for the next five years, labeled all unsanctioned civil society organizations as “reactionary groups”.
Vietnam has used fabricated allegation to silence the government critics. According to Human Rights Watch, Vietnam is holding 130 political prisoners.
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December 26, 2015
Vietnam Persecution Wave against Activists Continues ahead of Communists’ National Congress, Children Also Targeted
by Nhan Quyen • [Human Rights], Do Thi Minh Hanh, Ho Thi Kim Ninh, Hoang Duc Binh (Viet Labor), Huynh Thanh Phat (Saigon), Pham Thanh Nghien, Pham Van Ngoc Long, Tran Bang, Tran Thi Nga (Tran Thuy Nga), Vu Ngoc Han (Saigon)
Mr. Hoang Duc Binh, member of Viet Labor, still in detention in HCMC
By Vu Quoc Ngu, Dec 26, 2015
Vietnam’s police nationwide have been intensifying persecutions against local activists ahead of the ruling communist party’s National Congress, targeting political dissidents, social activists and human rights defenders and even their young children.
In Ho Chi Minh City, police on December 25 detained about ten activists, beating them brutally before releasing them.
The incident started on Friday afternoon when police in Hoa Thanh ward, Tan Phu district arrested Mr. Binh, 33, who earlier in the day disseminated leaflets on the rights of independent labor union.
Police detained Mr. Binh and confiscated 3,000 leaflets of independent Viet Labor which contain a statement of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung saying Vietnamese workers have right to form their labor union independent from the government, as the country has committed during negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.
Informed about the detention, a dozen activists in HCMC gathered at the Hoa Thanh police station to demand for the unconditional and immediate release of Mr. Binh. Police rejected their demand, detained many of them and beat them barbarically. Among the victims of police assaults were Ms. Do Thi Minh Hanh, Tran Bang, Pham Van Ngoc Long, Huynh Thanh Phat, Ho Thi Kim Ninh and Vu Ngoc Han.
Police officers broke Ms. Ninh’s left arm while Mr. Long suffered severe injuries in his belly.
In the early hours of Saturday, police released all activists but kept Mr. Binh until afternoon of the same day. Binh, who was said to have vomited after being tortured by police officers in Hoa Thanh ward, is with numerous severe injuries in his body.
Ninh and Long were taken to a local hospital for emergency, activists said.
On Saturday, police continue to harass activists in HCMC, blocking many of them from going out, said Mrs. Pham Thanh Nghien, one of the victims.
This is the second police assault within one month against Ms. Hanh, leader of independent Viet Labor which aims to protect the Vietnamese workers. On November 22, Hanh and her colleague Truong Minh Duc were detained and beaten by police in the southern province of Dong Nai when the duo tried to assist local workers to settle labor disputes with a South Korea-invested firm which fired around two thousand of its workers without proper reasons.
Meanwhile, plainclothes agents in the northern province of Ha Nam targeted land and labor rights activist Tran Thi Nga and her two children, one is five and the other three years of age. When Ms. Nga and her offspring went to celebrate Christmas in her city in the evening of Friday December 25, thugs threw a mess of mam tom (a sauce made by fermented shrimp) at them. Due to the attack, her older son Phu developed numerous nodules on his face while all their clothes and heads were covered with the dirty substance. Nga, who has been a subject of the local police’s torture in recent years, said the local police are responsible for the attack. She also blamed that they tried to organize a “traffic accident” to kill her and the children.
On Monday, a thug attacked Hanoi-based activist Truong Van Dung with liquid acid near the police station in Back Khoa ward in Hai Ba Trung district when he, accompanied by numerous activists and land petitioner, went to the police station to demand for the return of his cell phone and memory cards which the police took from him earlier. Instead of returning his illegally taken items, police deployed numerous thugs to threaten activists and attack him. (For full report of the attack, you can read here: /2015/12/21/hanoi-based-activist-attacked-acid-thugs-near-police-station-five-days-tortured-robbed-policemen/)
Vietnam’s government has intensified its crackdown against local activists several weeks ahead of the ruling communist party’s National Congress slated on Jan 20-28, 2016.
Ten days ago, on December 16, Vietnam arrested human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai and his assistant Le Thu Ha. Police charged Mr. Dai with conducting anti-state propaganda under Article 88 of the country’s Penal Code, which carries a sentence of between three and twelve years.
In mid December, Vietnam also sentenced Nguyen Viet Dung, the founder and leader of the unsanctioned Republican Party of Vietnam to 15 months in jail under the fabricated charge of conducting public disorders during a peaceful demonstration on environmental issues in the capital city of Hanoi.
Responding to the ongoing wave of attacks and arrest against Vietnamese human rights defenders, the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights, the EU, the London-based Amnesty International, the New York-based Human Rights Watch and the Stockholm-based Civil Rights Defenders all urged Vietnam’s government to stop these assaults and bring the perpetrators to justice in line with the country’s international commitments and obligations on human rights.
The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called on “the international community to press the Vietnamese authorities to stop employing these thuggish methods, which have turned Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s administration into a government of gangsters.”
So far, Vietnam’s authorities have rejected allegations that it is supporting these attacks against local activists, saying these assaults were conducted by people from the criminal world. However, they also refused to conduct serious investigations to bring the attackers to justice.
Prominent blogger Truong Minh Nhat, who is a former prisoner of conscience, sarcastically labeled the government-back thugs as the person of the year in 2015.
Vowing to keep the country under a one-party regime, the Vietnamese communist party has requested the security forces to prevent the establishment of opposition parties.
Recently, Minister of Public Security General Tran Dai Quang, who is expected to be promoted to one of the country’s four key leadership positions for the next five years, labeled all unsanctioned civil society organizations as “reactionary groups”.
Vietnam has used fabricated allegation to silence the government critics. According to Human Rights Watch, Vietnam is holding 130 political prisoners.