Defenders’ Weekly | Mar 06, 2016
============ March 01============
Vietnam Should Cooperate with UN Human Rights Mechanisms
Civil Rights Defenders, Mar 01, 2016: This week the 31st session of the UN Human Rights Council begins in Geneva, Switzerland. Vietnam is in the final year of its three-year term as a council member. Yet its cooperation with UN human rights mechanisms remains weak.
Arbitrary restrictions on civil and political rights in Vietnam are on-going, despite the country being a state party to multiple international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Following Vietnam’s last ICCPR review in 2002, the UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern that the status of the human rights protected under the treaty remains “unclear” under domestic law and “that according to Vietnamese law the Covenant rights must be interpreted in a way that may compromise the enjoyment of these rights by all individuals.” Vietnam’s next ICCPR report is overdue since August 2004.
In addition to the use of repressive legislation to silence critics, harassment, attacks and intimidation of activists and their family members have been documented, including violent assaults by police or plainclothes agents. Last year, at least 70 activists and their family members were subjected to such violence.
Since 2002, nine independent UN human rights experts, also known as Special Rapporteurs, have requested to visit Vietnam, but have yet to receive a positive response.
Vietnam should facilitate visits by the Special Rapporteurs and submit reports to UN treaty bodies without undue delay. Instead of intimidating those who cooperate or attempt to cooperate with UN mechanisms, Vietnam should conduct meaningful and inclusive consultations with independent civil society groups and human rights defenders in the preparation of human rights reports to the UN and create a safe and enabling environment for them to monitor and contribute to the implementation of UN recommendations.
———————–
Vietnam Prominent Political Prisoner Refuses Gov’t Proposal to Live In Exile in U.S.
Defend the Defenders: Vietnamese prominent political dissident Bui Thi Minh Hang, who is serving her three-year sentence, has refused the government’s proposal of amnesty and life in exile in the U.S., local activists said.
Ms. Ta Minh Tu, a young sister of former political prisoner Ta Phong Tan, said that Vietnam’s communist government has offered to grant amnesty for well-known human rights activist Bui Thi Minh Hang one year before her three-year imprisonment ends, on the condition that she must leave the country immediately and live in exile in the U.S.
The government would give her $5,000 and take her from the prison to an international airport where she would take international flights to the U.S.
However, the government’s proposal was turned down as Ms. Hang is willing to stay in the country to continue her fighting for pluralistic democracy and human rights, Ms. Tu said.
Blogger Bo Trung, a son of Ms. Hang’s, confirmed his mother’s refusal of the offer.
In the past few years, Vietnam has forced a number of political dissidents, including France-trained legal expert Cu Huy Ha Vu and prominent bloggers Nguyen Van Hai and Ta Phong Tan, to live in exile in the U.S. The trio will very unlikely to be allowed to return to the Southeast Asian nation when the communists still hold power. Their imprisonments will be postponed but not considered completed.
Human rights lawyer Le Quoc Quan, who completed his 30-month imprisonment on the trumped-up charge of tax evasion last year, said during his term, security officers made him the same offer many times, but he rejected them, saying he would remain in Vietnam to fight for multi-party democracy and human rights protection and promotion.
Dr. Vu, who was sentenced to seven years for criticizing Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his government, said the Vietnamese government treats local political dissidents as bargaining chips in exchange for economic benefits with the U.S. and other Western countries.
Ms. Hang, one of the most prominent activists protesting China’s violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea, was arrested in early 2014 when she and other activists visited former political prisoner Nguyen Bac Truyen in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap. Security forces arrested her and two other religious activists Nguyen Van Minh and Nguyen Thi Thuy Quynh and charged them with causing public disorders. In trials which failed to meet international standards for fair trial, she was sentenced to three years in jail for bogus traffic offense.
Hang, who is also a land rights activist, had been harassed by the communist government before. She was detained many times after participating in peaceful anti-China protests in Hanoi and Saigon, and was sent to re-habilitation facility by authorities in the capital city of Hanoi for months in a bid to silence her.
Since her arrest, many legislators and officials from the U.S. and EU countries as well as international human rights bodies have urged Vietnam to release her immediately and unconditionally.
Her family said that Ms. Hang’s health has worsened due to inhumane treatment of prison’s authorities. Last year, she conducted a long hunger strike to protest degrading treatments by prison authorities against her and other prisoners, especially prisoners of conscience.
According to the New York-based Human Rights Watch, Vietnam is holding at least 130 political prisoners while Hanoi always denies this accusation and insists that it imprisons only law violators.
=========== March 2==========
Vietnam Security Forces Continue to Harass Hanoi-based Activists after Detaining, Robbing Them Last Month
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam’s security forces have continued their intimidation against Hanoi-based activists Ngo Duy Quyen and his wife Le Thi Cong Nhan after detaining the husband and searching their private residence and robbing money and other items one month ago, the victims complained.
Mr. Quyen, a member of the charity group Bau Bi Tuong Than (People’s Solidarity) which has provided financial assistance for prisoners of conscience and their families, reported from his home town Bac Giang that many security agents are gathering around his family’s house where he and his younger brother Ngo Quynh are running a farm.
Mrs. Nhan, a former political prisoner and member of the independent labor union Lao Dong Viet (Viet Labors) said from Hanoi that the private apartment of her mother in which the couple lives is also blocked by many police officers.
Many activists have expressed their concerns about the police’s ongoing harassment against Quyen and Nhan. They have called on international and domestic human rights bodies as well as social activists to pay special attention to the couple which vows to fight for pluralistic politics and human rights respect in the Southeast Asian country.
Last week, Hanoi police summoned Quyen two times regarding a petition submitted by local independent civil society organizations (CSOs) to Minister of Public Security General Tran Dai Quang. In the petition which was sent by Quyen via post office a few months ago, the local independent CSOs raised their concerns on recent deaths of many detainees in police stations and detention facilities.
Mr. Quyen, who is very active in peaceful demonstrations against China’s violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea and human rights violations in the communist nation, rejected the police’s request, saying he has nothing to work with police but is willing to meet with the minister or his representative on the matter.
On February 4, few days prior to the Lunar New Year or Tet festival, police in Hanoi detained Quyen when he was delivering agricultural products grown by him and his brother in their farm to clients in the capital city.
Few hours later, police violently entered the apartment of his mother-in-law and searched the house without warrant. They confiscated around $600, the money he got from selling farm produce, and many personal items, including laptops and four cell phones without making clear minutes.
After a long interrogation which lasted from the afternoon and until midnight, police released him but asked him to come back to police station the next day.
Mr. Quyen had been detained many times during peaceful anti-China demonstrations. In other cases, he was barred from going out to attend social activities.
Due to his political activities, he has been suppressed by local authorities. Under police pressure, Quyen was forced to quit his job as legal expert in a law company. He tried to work in other fields, however, he was forced to abandon them because he could not tolerate systemic corruption among state officials.
Finally, Quyen returned to his hometown in Bac Giang, and together with his brother Quynh, a former prisoner of conscience, he set up an organic farm for the production of chicken, ducks, fish and vegetables. His high-quality products meet high demand, and he has become a regular supplier of safe farm produce for social activists in Hanoi and adjacent localities.
Quyen’s detention is the first political case in Vietnam one week after the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam ended its 12th National Congress, with election of the new leadership for the next five-year term. Police generals have dominated the new leadership, with four generals elected to the party’s 19-member Politburo, the most powerful body in the communist nation, and two others in the party’s Secretariat. Three other police generals were elected to the 200-member Central Committee which has the highest power in between consecutive party congresses.
The detention took place on the same day when Vietnam and 11 other nations signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in New Zealand. The pact, which is expected to boost trade and investment between Vietnam and other Asia-Pacific nations, needs approval of parliaments of the countries members, some of which are concerned about increasing human rights violations in Vietnam.
Mr. Pham Van Troi, leader of the unsanctioned Brotherhood for Democracy, said the police’s main goal in detaining Quyen is to search his apartment for documents of his wife Nhan, who is one of the key members of Lao Dong Viet which advocates for workers’ rights. In recent weeks, police in Ho Chi Minh City have intensified their surveillance on other leaders of Lao Dong Viet, including former prisoners of conscience Do Thi Minh Hanh and Truong Minh Duc, Mr. Troi noted.
Vietnam has yet to allow workers to form their independent labor unions to protect their rights while the Vietnam General Trade Union is under government control and has no activities to effectively protect workers’ rights.
The communists have vowed to maintain the country under a one-party regime, and their government has used controversial Penal Code articles such as Articles 79, 88 and 258 to silence political dissidents, social activists and human rights defenders. The ruling party has ordered the country’s security forces to prevent the establishment of opposition parties while Minister of Public Security General Tran Dai Quang, who is set to succeed incumbent President Truong Tan Sang in July, labeled 60 unregistered civil societies as “reactionary groups.”
With more police generals taking up key positions in the party and state agencies, Vietnam is expected to continue its socialism path and prioritize the deepening of the comprehensive strategic partnership with China, which has been increasingly aggressive in the East Sea to turn the sea into its own lake, observers said, adding more political suppression will be seen in coming days.
According to the New York-based Human Rights Watch, Vietnam is holding at least 130 political prisoners while Hanoi consistently denies it is keeping any prisoner of conscience and insists that only law violators are imprisoned.
———————————
Vietnam Appeal Court Reduces Imprisonment of 15-year-old Boy to 30 Months for Opposing Police in Land Grabbing Case
Defend the Defenders: The People’s Court in Vietnam’s southern province of Long An on March 2 rejected the appeal of 15-year-old boy Nguyen Mai Trung Tuan, saying the boy is guilty for attacking police with acid when local authorities deployed police and militia to seize his family’s land in mid-April last year.
However, the court reduced his sentence to 30 months in prison. On November 24 last year, the People’s Court in Long An province’s Thach Hoa district sentenced him to 54 months of imprisonment for intentionally inflicting injury on state officials under Article 104 of the country’s Penal Code.
Similar to the first hearing, eleven lawyers defending the boy insisted in the court room that his client is innocent since the boy’s act was not intentional and was triggered by police violence during the land seizure. The lawyers also said the court used the temporary health tests of the injured policemen which were not carried out according to proper procedures.
The court rejected the lawyers’ defense and imposed the heavy sentence on the boy whose final statement in court is to come back to school to continue his study.
Nearly one hundred of Vietnamese activists from Ho Chi Minh City and other southern provinces came to Long An to attend the open trial, however, they were not allowed to enter the courtroom so they stayed outside and listened through a loudspeaker. Security agents closely monitored the activists and tried to bar them from moving around the court building.
Security forces also detained activist Le Thi Em but released her after the trial ended.
The sentence makes Tuan the third member of his family to be jailed in the same land grabbing case. In September last year, his father Nguyen Trung Can and mother Mai Thi Kim Huong were tried and imprisoned for causing public disorder after they opposed local authorities’ seizure of their land seven months ago. The father and mother were sentenced to prison terms of three years and three and half years, respectively.
Also in the same case, ten people from two other families were sentenced to between two and three and half years in prison for opposing the local authorities, in the first hearing in mid September last year.
On April 14, 2015, Long An’s authorities sent numerous policemen and militia to evict the three families, including the four-member family of Can and Huong, out of their land to make way for an embankment project. However, they met strong objection from the land owners who have not agreed to the proposed compensation of VND300,000 per square meter.
According to state-run newspapers, the farmers used gas cylinder and knifes to protect their land, and threw acid at policemen, burning 15 officers, one of officer had to seek treatment at the Ho Chi Minh City-based Cho Ray Hospital, according to the local authorities.
Two other policemen were also scratched in their arms allegedly by people attacking them with scissors, the local police said.
Several years ago, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development approved the project which would be built on the land of the three families, but they refused to give up their lands due to the low compensation prices.
In Vietnam, all land is owned by the state and people only have the right to use land. The law allows the government to revoke these rights at any time, usually by paying compensation.
But it often triggers conflicts and sometimes even violence.
A gun battle by farmer Doan Van Vuon’s family in the northern city of Haiphong in January 2012 among other incidents prompted the government to issue a resolution this April that restricts local authorities in taking land from farmers.
It enjoins authorities to ensure farmers’ legitimate interests are protected if their land is taken over for national security and other public purposes.
Thousands of farmers across Vietnam have gathered in front of government buildings in the capital city of Hanoi to demand for justice as local authorities have grabbed their land for very cheap prices for developing industrial and urban projects.
Many said they have no more land for crop cultivation while others claimed that they could not buy land for resettlement with the compensation they received for the expropriated land.
Land petitioners have been inhumanely treated by police forces which often detain them in police stations and beat them before sending them back to their home localities.
Many Vietnamese have been charged for conducting activities against on-duty officials when they tried to protect their land. Many have been imprisoned up to three years.
In 2014, land petitioner Dang Ngoc Viet, 42, a recipient in a land compensation deal in Haiphong city, opened fire on a group of five officials from Thai Binh’s Center for Land Development Fund, killing one and severely injured two others. Viet killed himself a few hours later on the same day.
The shooting resulted from some disagreement between the petitioner and officials in the northern province of Thai Binh, which is adjacent to Haiphong city. Farmer Doan Van Vuon was the first in Vietnam to have opposed land rights abuse by armed resistance.
Hanoi-based human rights activists said that if the one-party government maintains its policies on land management, in which the state controls land and gives locals only rights to use it, there would be more similar tragic cases.
More than 70% of prolonged complaint cases reported in Vietnam so far are related to land disputes in which local governments or authorities-backed investors take land from local people at dirt prices for so-called development projects, according to government reports.
============== March 03 =========
Amnesty International Calls for Urgent Action to Raise Concerns for Activist Tran Minh Nhat
The London-based Amnesty International on March 03 issued a statement raising concerns for Vietnamese pro-democracy activist Tran Minh Nhat, who is facing ongoing harassment, intimidation and other human rights abuses by police in the Central Highland province of Lam Dong.
In its statement, Amnesty International listed a number of attacks by police and plainclothes people against Nhat and his family since his release in August last year.
The human rights organization has urged people around the world to write in Vietnamese, English or other languages to:
– Call on the Vietnamese authorities to end the harassment, intimidation and other forms of attack against Trần Minh Nhật and his family and to take measures to ensure their safety and security;
– Urge them to carry out a prompt, thorough and transparent investigation into recent allegations of harassment, intimidation and other forms of attack against Trần Minh Nhật and his family and to bring suspected perpetrators to justice;
– Call on them to take measures to protect all human rights defenders from acts of harassment, intimidation and other human rights violations.
The letters should be sent to Vietnam’s Minister of Public Security General Tran Dai Quang and Chairman of Lam Dong province’s executive body People’s Committee Nguyen Xuan Tien or Vietnam’s diplomatic missions.
Viet Nam: Safety concerns for Vietnamese activist: Trần Minh Nhật
============== March 04==========
Vietnam Court Upholds 42-month Imprisonment for Land Petitioner
Defend the Defenders: The Go Dau district People’s Court in Vietnam’s southern province of Tay Ninh in its second hearing on March 04 has upheld the 42-month sentence handed down on local land petitioner Nguyen Van Thong, who was convicted for “abusing democratic freedoms against the interests of the state” under Article 258 of the country’s Penal Code.
The court upheld the sentence against Mr. Thong given by the first hearing of the same court held on September 22 last year although the verdict was overturned by the Tay Ninh province’s appeal court held on Dec 16 last year.
During the hearing on last Friday, the court did not summon witnesses or related people to the case, and the Procuracy and the judges said Thong’s petitions for his seized land and his writings on his Facebook account have defamed officials of Go Dau district and Tay Ninh province, affecting Vietnam’s prestige on human rights in global stage.
Mr. Thong, whose 11,000-square-meter land was grabbed by local authorities without receiving adequate compensation, said his denunciation is legal and his writings in social network have not defamed local cadres. Instead, the concerned officials were promoted. In particular, Vo Van Dung, chairman of the district executive body People’s Committee, was promoted to the ruling communist party’s Committee in Go Dau district.
However, the court ignored the defense provided by the defendant and his lawyers, including well-known human rights lawyer Vo An Don.
Mr. Thong, who was arrested on February 3, 2015 in Hanoi, is among nearly a hundred land petitioners in Tay Ninh. His land was seized to make way for the building of the Phuoc Dong Urban and Industrial Complex.
During 2014-2015, he and other land petitioners in Tay Ninh went to Hanoi to fill their denunciations to government agencies and demand for justice.
Thong said many land petitioners in Tay Ninh were detained and severely beaten while in police custody.
In communist Vietnam, all land is owned by the state and people only get the right to use land. The law allows the government to revoke these rights at any time, usually by paying low compensation, for national security and other public purposes. Authorities in many localities have abused their power, grabbing land and giving them to industrial and urban projects at prices much higher than the compensation prices.
Due to low compensation for their land, thousands of farmers across Vietnam have gathered in front of government buildings in the capital city of Hanoi to demand for justice. Many said they have no more land for crop cultivation while others claimed that they could not buy land for resettlement with the compensation they received for the expropriated land.
Land petitioners have been inhumanely treated by police forces which often detain them in police stations and beat them before sending them back to their home localities.
Many Vietnamese land petitioners have been charged for conducting activities against on-duty officials when they tried to protect their land.
Hanoi-based human rights activists said that if the one-party regime maintains its policies on land management, in which the state controls land and only gives locals rights to use it, there would be more similar tragic cases.
More than 70% of prolonged complaint cases reported in Vietnam so far are related to land disputes in which local governments or authorities-backed investors take land from local people at dirt prices for so-called development projects, according to government reports.
Vietnam has used a number of controversial articles such as 79, 88, 245 and 258 of the Penal Code to silence political dissidents, social activists, human rights defenders and land petitioners, observers said.
———————-
Vietnam’s Communists Challenged as Dissidents Bid for Parliament
A number of Vietnamese activists have declared their candidacy for the country’s legislative body National Assembly in a bid to challenge political monopoly of the Communist Party of Vietnam which has ruled the nation for decades.
Among them are former IT entrepreneur and banker Nguyen Quang A, human rights lawyer Vo An Don, law graduate and blogger Nguyen Dinh Ha, blogger Nguyen Tuong Thuy and prominent lawyer Le Cong Dinh, who is also former political prisoner.
The aim, Quang A and other activists say, is to exploit the popularity of social media to scrutinize the 4.5 million-member Communist Party and encourage political participation from outside.
However, it was highly unlikely that the activists would even be allowed to run for parliament, said political analyst Le Hong Hiep.
“The party wants to have some critical voices in the parliament, but not those that they cannot control or those that may cause political embarrassments,” he said.
Vietnam’s Communists put to the test as dissidents bid for parliament
================== March 05==================
Vietnam Parliament Wants to Regulate Social Networks
Defend the Defenders: The Standing Committee of Vietnam’s highest legislature National Assembly (NA) has discussed a draft law on press which aims to regulate the operation of social networks, saying that all press and press-like products must be under the state’s control.
At its 45th meeting which concluded on Feb 25, the Standing Committee proposed that the NA allow the supplementation of regulations on the license, operation and responsibility of social networks and general news portals because the sites have contents similar to those in the press.
Accordingly, the general information portals need to post exact content, sources and time of the original news. They are also required to remove the entries if the original sources delete the posted information.
Users of social networks in Vietnam also need to follow the above rule when posting press-like information provided by overseas individuals or organizations.
In Vietnam, where around 30 million of people use social networks, people may be administratively fined or even criminalized for postings related to sensitive topics, especially those stories regarding corruption and poor management of the government and state officials.
Meanwhile, information portals have mushroomed in Vietnam to a recorded number of 1,610 units in recent years, as many as 100 times that of state-controlled online news outlets, according to Deputy Minister Truong Minh Tuan of Information and Communications.
Vietnam has 845 press agencies including 199 printing newspapers and 646 magazines, one national news agency, 98 online news portals, 67 television and radio stations. All of them are under strict control of the communist party’s Central Commission for Propaganda and Education and the Ministry of Information and Communication. The country has nearly 18,000 licensed reporters.
The communist nation is one of countries with the lowest score in the world’s press freedom index, and one of the biggest enemies of Internet, according to international human rights and press freedom groups.
—————-
50 Self-Nominees Registered for Vietnam’s General Election: Senior Official
Defend the Defenders: As many as 50 self-nominees have registered to compete for seats in Vietnam’s legislative body National Assembly (NA) for the 2016-2021 term so far, said Nguyen Thien Nhan, president of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, an agency empowered to verify eligibility of all nominees.
The number of self-nominees for legislative positions in the country’s parliament in the next general election scheduled on May 22 will increase in coming days, said President Nhan, who is also member of the Politburo, the highest decision-making body of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam.
Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have the highest number of self-nominees, he noted at the third meeting of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, a mass organization controlled by the ruling communist party.
Vietnam may have 50 non-communist lawmakers in the 500-person parliament in the 2016-2021 term, Nhan said earlier.
Vietnam has 184 seats up for elections in the National Assembly. The ruling party introduces 198 candidates so 15 election points will have two candidates for two seats.
It is difficult to ensure the two candidates introduced by the party to win their seats, said Tran Van Tuy, deputy head of the party’s Central Commission for Personnel.
The agencies involving in the general and local elections, especially the Vietnam Fatherland Front, must take all measures to ensure there is no discrimination against the candidates, said Nguyen Van Pha, vice president of the VFF.
Pha also urged candidates to inspect the elections to ensure their fairness.
Meanwhile, many social activists have registered for seats in the parliament and People’s Councils in provincial, district and communal level. Their move aims to challenge the political monopoly of the Communist Party of Vietnam which has ruled the country for decades.
However, there is little chance for them to be included in the final list of candidates as the communists are expected to make all tricks to kick them out, as they did in previous elections for unwanted people, observers said.
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Vietnam Police in Districts Expanding Detention Facilities: Gen. Chung
Defend the Defenders: Police in many districts across Vietnam are expanding their detention facilities in a bid to keep detainees longer instead of handing them over to the provincial police, said Lieutenant General Nguyen Duc Chung, head of the Hanoi Police Department.
The situation must be halted and I suggest the Legal Committee of the country’s legislative body National Assembly to work on the issue in its next term, said Gen. Chung who is also chairman of the Hanoi city’s executive body People’s Committee.
When district detention facilities are expanded, they need more staff, Chung said.
Many Vietnamese detainees have been treated inhumanely in local detention facilities. A number of them have died or been severely injured while in police custody in the first two months of this year, according to state media and local social networks.
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March 7, 2016
Vietnam Human Rights Defenders Weekly February 29- March 06: Amnesty International Calls for Attention to Former Political Prisoner Tran Minh Nhat Who Is Under Constant Police Harassment
by Nhan Quyen • [Human Rights], DEFENDER’S WEEKLY
Defenders’ Weekly | Mar 06, 2016
On March 03, Amnesty International issued a statement calling people worldwide to raise their concerns for the safety of former political prisoner Tran Minh Nhat, who has been under police harassment since being released in August last year.
In its statement, the London-based human rights organization urged people to write to Vietnam’s authorities to request the communist nation to ensure safety and security for Mr. Nhat.
Two days earlier, Civil Rights Defenders, a Stockholm-based human rights advocacy group, urged Vietnam’s communist government to facilitate visits by the Special Rapporteurs and submit reports to UN treaty bodies without undue delay. Instead of intimidating those who cooperate or attempt to cooperate with UN mechanisms, Hanoi should conduct meaningful and inclusive consultations with independent civil society groups and human rights defenders in the preparation of human rights reports to the UN and create a safe and enabling environment for them to monitor and contribute to the implementation of UN recommendations.
Vietnam’s security forces have continued their intimidation against Hanoi-based activist Ngo Duy Quyen and his wife Le Thi Cong Nhan after detaining the husband and searching their private residence and robbing money and other items one month ago, the victims complained. Authorities in Hanoi have summoned him many times for interrogation and sent numerous police officers to the areas near the couple’s residence in the capital city as well as his father’s house in the northern province of Bac Giang where Quyen and his younger brother are running a farm.
Two more land petitioners have been sentenced to jail in separate cases of land seizure in unfair trials in the southern Vietnam.
And many other important news.
============ March 01============
Vietnam Should Cooperate with UN Human Rights Mechanisms
Civil Rights Defenders, Mar 01, 2016: This week the 31st session of the UN Human Rights Council begins in Geneva, Switzerland. Vietnam is in the final year of its three-year term as a council member. Yet its cooperation with UN human rights mechanisms remains weak.
Arbitrary restrictions on civil and political rights in Vietnam are on-going, despite the country being a state party to multiple international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Following Vietnam’s last ICCPR review in 2002, the UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern that the status of the human rights protected under the treaty remains “unclear” under domestic law and “that according to Vietnamese law the Covenant rights must be interpreted in a way that may compromise the enjoyment of these rights by all individuals.” Vietnam’s next ICCPR report is overdue since August 2004.
In addition to the use of repressive legislation to silence critics, harassment, attacks and intimidation of activists and their family members have been documented, including violent assaults by police or plainclothes agents. Last year, at least 70 activists and their family members were subjected to such violence.
Since 2002, nine independent UN human rights experts, also known as Special Rapporteurs, have requested to visit Vietnam, but have yet to receive a positive response.
Vietnam should facilitate visits by the Special Rapporteurs and submit reports to UN treaty bodies without undue delay. Instead of intimidating those who cooperate or attempt to cooperate with UN mechanisms, Vietnam should conduct meaningful and inclusive consultations with independent civil society groups and human rights defenders in the preparation of human rights reports to the UN and create a safe and enabling environment for them to monitor and contribute to the implementation of UN recommendations.
———————–
Vietnam Prominent Political Prisoner Refuses Gov’t Proposal to Live In Exile in U.S.
Defend the Defenders: Vietnamese prominent political dissident Bui Thi Minh Hang, who is serving her three-year sentence, has refused the government’s proposal of amnesty and life in exile in the U.S., local activists said.
Ms. Ta Minh Tu, a young sister of former political prisoner Ta Phong Tan, said that Vietnam’s communist government has offered to grant amnesty for well-known human rights activist Bui Thi Minh Hang one year before her three-year imprisonment ends, on the condition that she must leave the country immediately and live in exile in the U.S.
The government would give her $5,000 and take her from the prison to an international airport where she would take international flights to the U.S.
However, the government’s proposal was turned down as Ms. Hang is willing to stay in the country to continue her fighting for pluralistic democracy and human rights, Ms. Tu said.
Blogger Bo Trung, a son of Ms. Hang’s, confirmed his mother’s refusal of the offer.
In the past few years, Vietnam has forced a number of political dissidents, including France-trained legal expert Cu Huy Ha Vu and prominent bloggers Nguyen Van Hai and Ta Phong Tan, to live in exile in the U.S. The trio will very unlikely to be allowed to return to the Southeast Asian nation when the communists still hold power. Their imprisonments will be postponed but not considered completed.
Human rights lawyer Le Quoc Quan, who completed his 30-month imprisonment on the trumped-up charge of tax evasion last year, said during his term, security officers made him the same offer many times, but he rejected them, saying he would remain in Vietnam to fight for multi-party democracy and human rights protection and promotion.
Dr. Vu, who was sentenced to seven years for criticizing Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his government, said the Vietnamese government treats local political dissidents as bargaining chips in exchange for economic benefits with the U.S. and other Western countries.
Ms. Hang, one of the most prominent activists protesting China’s violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea, was arrested in early 2014 when she and other activists visited former political prisoner Nguyen Bac Truyen in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap. Security forces arrested her and two other religious activists Nguyen Van Minh and Nguyen Thi Thuy Quynh and charged them with causing public disorders. In trials which failed to meet international standards for fair trial, she was sentenced to three years in jail for bogus traffic offense.
Hang, who is also a land rights activist, had been harassed by the communist government before. She was detained many times after participating in peaceful anti-China protests in Hanoi and Saigon, and was sent to re-habilitation facility by authorities in the capital city of Hanoi for months in a bid to silence her.
Since her arrest, many legislators and officials from the U.S. and EU countries as well as international human rights bodies have urged Vietnam to release her immediately and unconditionally.
Her family said that Ms. Hang’s health has worsened due to inhumane treatment of prison’s authorities. Last year, she conducted a long hunger strike to protest degrading treatments by prison authorities against her and other prisoners, especially prisoners of conscience.
According to the New York-based Human Rights Watch, Vietnam is holding at least 130 political prisoners while Hanoi always denies this accusation and insists that it imprisons only law violators.
=========== March 2==========
Vietnam Security Forces Continue to Harass Hanoi-based Activists after Detaining, Robbing Them Last Month
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam’s security forces have continued their intimidation against Hanoi-based activists Ngo Duy Quyen and his wife Le Thi Cong Nhan after detaining the husband and searching their private residence and robbing money and other items one month ago, the victims complained.
Mr. Quyen, a member of the charity group Bau Bi Tuong Than (People’s Solidarity) which has provided financial assistance for prisoners of conscience and their families, reported from his home town Bac Giang that many security agents are gathering around his family’s house where he and his younger brother Ngo Quynh are running a farm.
Mrs. Nhan, a former political prisoner and member of the independent labor union Lao Dong Viet (Viet Labors) said from Hanoi that the private apartment of her mother in which the couple lives is also blocked by many police officers.
Many activists have expressed their concerns about the police’s ongoing harassment against Quyen and Nhan. They have called on international and domestic human rights bodies as well as social activists to pay special attention to the couple which vows to fight for pluralistic politics and human rights respect in the Southeast Asian country.
Last week, Hanoi police summoned Quyen two times regarding a petition submitted by local independent civil society organizations (CSOs) to Minister of Public Security General Tran Dai Quang. In the petition which was sent by Quyen via post office a few months ago, the local independent CSOs raised their concerns on recent deaths of many detainees in police stations and detention facilities.
Mr. Quyen, who is very active in peaceful demonstrations against China’s violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea and human rights violations in the communist nation, rejected the police’s request, saying he has nothing to work with police but is willing to meet with the minister or his representative on the matter.
On February 4, few days prior to the Lunar New Year or Tet festival, police in Hanoi detained Quyen when he was delivering agricultural products grown by him and his brother in their farm to clients in the capital city.
Few hours later, police violently entered the apartment of his mother-in-law and searched the house without warrant. They confiscated around $600, the money he got from selling farm produce, and many personal items, including laptops and four cell phones without making clear minutes.
After a long interrogation which lasted from the afternoon and until midnight, police released him but asked him to come back to police station the next day.
Mr. Quyen had been detained many times during peaceful anti-China demonstrations. In other cases, he was barred from going out to attend social activities.
Due to his political activities, he has been suppressed by local authorities. Under police pressure, Quyen was forced to quit his job as legal expert in a law company. He tried to work in other fields, however, he was forced to abandon them because he could not tolerate systemic corruption among state officials.
Finally, Quyen returned to his hometown in Bac Giang, and together with his brother Quynh, a former prisoner of conscience, he set up an organic farm for the production of chicken, ducks, fish and vegetables. His high-quality products meet high demand, and he has become a regular supplier of safe farm produce for social activists in Hanoi and adjacent localities.
Quyen’s detention is the first political case in Vietnam one week after the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam ended its 12th National Congress, with election of the new leadership for the next five-year term. Police generals have dominated the new leadership, with four generals elected to the party’s 19-member Politburo, the most powerful body in the communist nation, and two others in the party’s Secretariat. Three other police generals were elected to the 200-member Central Committee which has the highest power in between consecutive party congresses.
The detention took place on the same day when Vietnam and 11 other nations signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in New Zealand. The pact, which is expected to boost trade and investment between Vietnam and other Asia-Pacific nations, needs approval of parliaments of the countries members, some of which are concerned about increasing human rights violations in Vietnam.
Mr. Pham Van Troi, leader of the unsanctioned Brotherhood for Democracy, said the police’s main goal in detaining Quyen is to search his apartment for documents of his wife Nhan, who is one of the key members of Lao Dong Viet which advocates for workers’ rights. In recent weeks, police in Ho Chi Minh City have intensified their surveillance on other leaders of Lao Dong Viet, including former prisoners of conscience Do Thi Minh Hanh and Truong Minh Duc, Mr. Troi noted.
Vietnam has yet to allow workers to form their independent labor unions to protect their rights while the Vietnam General Trade Union is under government control and has no activities to effectively protect workers’ rights.
The communists have vowed to maintain the country under a one-party regime, and their government has used controversial Penal Code articles such as Articles 79, 88 and 258 to silence political dissidents, social activists and human rights defenders. The ruling party has ordered the country’s security forces to prevent the establishment of opposition parties while Minister of Public Security General Tran Dai Quang, who is set to succeed incumbent President Truong Tan Sang in July, labeled 60 unregistered civil societies as “reactionary groups.”
With more police generals taking up key positions in the party and state agencies, Vietnam is expected to continue its socialism path and prioritize the deepening of the comprehensive strategic partnership with China, which has been increasingly aggressive in the East Sea to turn the sea into its own lake, observers said, adding more political suppression will be seen in coming days.
According to the New York-based Human Rights Watch, Vietnam is holding at least 130 political prisoners while Hanoi consistently denies it is keeping any prisoner of conscience and insists that only law violators are imprisoned.
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Vietnam Appeal Court Reduces Imprisonment of 15-year-old Boy to 30 Months for Opposing Police in Land Grabbing Case
Defend the Defenders: The People’s Court in Vietnam’s southern province of Long An on March 2 rejected the appeal of 15-year-old boy Nguyen Mai Trung Tuan, saying the boy is guilty for attacking police with acid when local authorities deployed police and militia to seize his family’s land in mid-April last year.
However, the court reduced his sentence to 30 months in prison. On November 24 last year, the People’s Court in Long An province’s Thach Hoa district sentenced him to 54 months of imprisonment for intentionally inflicting injury on state officials under Article 104 of the country’s Penal Code.
Similar to the first hearing, eleven lawyers defending the boy insisted in the court room that his client is innocent since the boy’s act was not intentional and was triggered by police violence during the land seizure. The lawyers also said the court used the temporary health tests of the injured policemen which were not carried out according to proper procedures.
The court rejected the lawyers’ defense and imposed the heavy sentence on the boy whose final statement in court is to come back to school to continue his study.
Nearly one hundred of Vietnamese activists from Ho Chi Minh City and other southern provinces came to Long An to attend the open trial, however, they were not allowed to enter the courtroom so they stayed outside and listened through a loudspeaker. Security agents closely monitored the activists and tried to bar them from moving around the court building.
Security forces also detained activist Le Thi Em but released her after the trial ended.
The sentence makes Tuan the third member of his family to be jailed in the same land grabbing case. In September last year, his father Nguyen Trung Can and mother Mai Thi Kim Huong were tried and imprisoned for causing public disorder after they opposed local authorities’ seizure of their land seven months ago. The father and mother were sentenced to prison terms of three years and three and half years, respectively.
Also in the same case, ten people from two other families were sentenced to between two and three and half years in prison for opposing the local authorities, in the first hearing in mid September last year.
On April 14, 2015, Long An’s authorities sent numerous policemen and militia to evict the three families, including the four-member family of Can and Huong, out of their land to make way for an embankment project. However, they met strong objection from the land owners who have not agreed to the proposed compensation of VND300,000 per square meter.
According to state-run newspapers, the farmers used gas cylinder and knifes to protect their land, and threw acid at policemen, burning 15 officers, one of officer had to seek treatment at the Ho Chi Minh City-based Cho Ray Hospital, according to the local authorities.
Two other policemen were also scratched in their arms allegedly by people attacking them with scissors, the local police said.
Several years ago, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development approved the project which would be built on the land of the three families, but they refused to give up their lands due to the low compensation prices.
In Vietnam, all land is owned by the state and people only have the right to use land. The law allows the government to revoke these rights at any time, usually by paying compensation.
But it often triggers conflicts and sometimes even violence.
A gun battle by farmer Doan Van Vuon’s family in the northern city of Haiphong in January 2012 among other incidents prompted the government to issue a resolution this April that restricts local authorities in taking land from farmers.
It enjoins authorities to ensure farmers’ legitimate interests are protected if their land is taken over for national security and other public purposes.
Thousands of farmers across Vietnam have gathered in front of government buildings in the capital city of Hanoi to demand for justice as local authorities have grabbed their land for very cheap prices for developing industrial and urban projects.
Many said they have no more land for crop cultivation while others claimed that they could not buy land for resettlement with the compensation they received for the expropriated land.
Land petitioners have been inhumanely treated by police forces which often detain them in police stations and beat them before sending them back to their home localities.
Many Vietnamese have been charged for conducting activities against on-duty officials when they tried to protect their land. Many have been imprisoned up to three years.
In 2014, land petitioner Dang Ngoc Viet, 42, a recipient in a land compensation deal in Haiphong city, opened fire on a group of five officials from Thai Binh’s Center for Land Development Fund, killing one and severely injured two others. Viet killed himself a few hours later on the same day.
The shooting resulted from some disagreement between the petitioner and officials in the northern province of Thai Binh, which is adjacent to Haiphong city. Farmer Doan Van Vuon was the first in Vietnam to have opposed land rights abuse by armed resistance.
Hanoi-based human rights activists said that if the one-party government maintains its policies on land management, in which the state controls land and gives locals only rights to use it, there would be more similar tragic cases.
More than 70% of prolonged complaint cases reported in Vietnam so far are related to land disputes in which local governments or authorities-backed investors take land from local people at dirt prices for so-called development projects, according to government reports.
============== March 03 =========
Amnesty International Calls for Urgent Action to Raise Concerns for Activist Tran Minh Nhat
The London-based Amnesty International on March 03 issued a statement raising concerns for Vietnamese pro-democracy activist Tran Minh Nhat, who is facing ongoing harassment, intimidation and other human rights abuses by police in the Central Highland province of Lam Dong.
In its statement, Amnesty International listed a number of attacks by police and plainclothes people against Nhat and his family since his release in August last year.
The human rights organization has urged people around the world to write in Vietnamese, English or other languages to:
– Call on the Vietnamese authorities to end the harassment, intimidation and other forms of attack against Trần Minh Nhật and his family and to take measures to ensure their safety and security;
– Urge them to carry out a prompt, thorough and transparent investigation into recent allegations of harassment, intimidation and other forms of attack against Trần Minh Nhật and his family and to bring suspected perpetrators to justice;
– Call on them to take measures to protect all human rights defenders from acts of harassment, intimidation and other human rights violations.
The letters should be sent to Vietnam’s Minister of Public Security General Tran Dai Quang and Chairman of Lam Dong province’s executive body People’s Committee Nguyen Xuan Tien or Vietnam’s diplomatic missions.
Viet Nam: Safety concerns for Vietnamese activist: Trần Minh Nhật
============== March 04==========
Vietnam Court Upholds 42-month Imprisonment for Land Petitioner
Defend the Defenders: The Go Dau district People’s Court in Vietnam’s southern province of Tay Ninh in its second hearing on March 04 has upheld the 42-month sentence handed down on local land petitioner Nguyen Van Thong, who was convicted for “abusing democratic freedoms against the interests of the state” under Article 258 of the country’s Penal Code.
The court upheld the sentence against Mr. Thong given by the first hearing of the same court held on September 22 last year although the verdict was overturned by the Tay Ninh province’s appeal court held on Dec 16 last year.
During the hearing on last Friday, the court did not summon witnesses or related people to the case, and the Procuracy and the judges said Thong’s petitions for his seized land and his writings on his Facebook account have defamed officials of Go Dau district and Tay Ninh province, affecting Vietnam’s prestige on human rights in global stage.
Mr. Thong, whose 11,000-square-meter land was grabbed by local authorities without receiving adequate compensation, said his denunciation is legal and his writings in social network have not defamed local cadres. Instead, the concerned officials were promoted. In particular, Vo Van Dung, chairman of the district executive body People’s Committee, was promoted to the ruling communist party’s Committee in Go Dau district.
However, the court ignored the defense provided by the defendant and his lawyers, including well-known human rights lawyer Vo An Don.
Mr. Thong, who was arrested on February 3, 2015 in Hanoi, is among nearly a hundred land petitioners in Tay Ninh. His land was seized to make way for the building of the Phuoc Dong Urban and Industrial Complex.
During 2014-2015, he and other land petitioners in Tay Ninh went to Hanoi to fill their denunciations to government agencies and demand for justice.
Thong said many land petitioners in Tay Ninh were detained and severely beaten while in police custody.
In communist Vietnam, all land is owned by the state and people only get the right to use land. The law allows the government to revoke these rights at any time, usually by paying low compensation, for national security and other public purposes. Authorities in many localities have abused their power, grabbing land and giving them to industrial and urban projects at prices much higher than the compensation prices.
Due to low compensation for their land, thousands of farmers across Vietnam have gathered in front of government buildings in the capital city of Hanoi to demand for justice. Many said they have no more land for crop cultivation while others claimed that they could not buy land for resettlement with the compensation they received for the expropriated land.
Land petitioners have been inhumanely treated by police forces which often detain them in police stations and beat them before sending them back to their home localities.
Many Vietnamese land petitioners have been charged for conducting activities against on-duty officials when they tried to protect their land.
Hanoi-based human rights activists said that if the one-party regime maintains its policies on land management, in which the state controls land and only gives locals rights to use it, there would be more similar tragic cases.
More than 70% of prolonged complaint cases reported in Vietnam so far are related to land disputes in which local governments or authorities-backed investors take land from local people at dirt prices for so-called development projects, according to government reports.
Vietnam has used a number of controversial articles such as 79, 88, 245 and 258 of the Penal Code to silence political dissidents, social activists, human rights defenders and land petitioners, observers said.
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Vietnam’s Communists Challenged as Dissidents Bid for Parliament
A number of Vietnamese activists have declared their candidacy for the country’s legislative body National Assembly in a bid to challenge political monopoly of the Communist Party of Vietnam which has ruled the nation for decades.
Among them are former IT entrepreneur and banker Nguyen Quang A, human rights lawyer Vo An Don, law graduate and blogger Nguyen Dinh Ha, blogger Nguyen Tuong Thuy and prominent lawyer Le Cong Dinh, who is also former political prisoner.
The aim, Quang A and other activists say, is to exploit the popularity of social media to scrutinize the 4.5 million-member Communist Party and encourage political participation from outside.
However, it was highly unlikely that the activists would even be allowed to run for parliament, said political analyst Le Hong Hiep.
“The party wants to have some critical voices in the parliament, but not those that they cannot control or those that may cause political embarrassments,” he said.
Vietnam’s Communists put to the test as dissidents bid for parliament
================== March 05==================
Vietnam Parliament Wants to Regulate Social Networks
Defend the Defenders: The Standing Committee of Vietnam’s highest legislature National Assembly (NA) has discussed a draft law on press which aims to regulate the operation of social networks, saying that all press and press-like products must be under the state’s control.
At its 45th meeting which concluded on Feb 25, the Standing Committee proposed that the NA allow the supplementation of regulations on the license, operation and responsibility of social networks and general news portals because the sites have contents similar to those in the press.
Accordingly, the general information portals need to post exact content, sources and time of the original news. They are also required to remove the entries if the original sources delete the posted information.
Users of social networks in Vietnam also need to follow the above rule when posting press-like information provided by overseas individuals or organizations.
In Vietnam, where around 30 million of people use social networks, people may be administratively fined or even criminalized for postings related to sensitive topics, especially those stories regarding corruption and poor management of the government and state officials.
Meanwhile, information portals have mushroomed in Vietnam to a recorded number of 1,610 units in recent years, as many as 100 times that of state-controlled online news outlets, according to Deputy Minister Truong Minh Tuan of Information and Communications.
Vietnam has 845 press agencies including 199 printing newspapers and 646 magazines, one national news agency, 98 online news portals, 67 television and radio stations. All of them are under strict control of the communist party’s Central Commission for Propaganda and Education and the Ministry of Information and Communication. The country has nearly 18,000 licensed reporters.
The communist nation is one of countries with the lowest score in the world’s press freedom index, and one of the biggest enemies of Internet, according to international human rights and press freedom groups.
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50 Self-Nominees Registered for Vietnam’s General Election: Senior Official
Defend the Defenders: As many as 50 self-nominees have registered to compete for seats in Vietnam’s legislative body National Assembly (NA) for the 2016-2021 term so far, said Nguyen Thien Nhan, president of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, an agency empowered to verify eligibility of all nominees.
The number of self-nominees for legislative positions in the country’s parliament in the next general election scheduled on May 22 will increase in coming days, said President Nhan, who is also member of the Politburo, the highest decision-making body of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam.
Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have the highest number of self-nominees, he noted at the third meeting of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, a mass organization controlled by the ruling communist party.
Vietnam may have 50 non-communist lawmakers in the 500-person parliament in the 2016-2021 term, Nhan said earlier.
Vietnam has 184 seats up for elections in the National Assembly. The ruling party introduces 198 candidates so 15 election points will have two candidates for two seats.
It is difficult to ensure the two candidates introduced by the party to win their seats, said Tran Van Tuy, deputy head of the party’s Central Commission for Personnel.
The agencies involving in the general and local elections, especially the Vietnam Fatherland Front, must take all measures to ensure there is no discrimination against the candidates, said Nguyen Van Pha, vice president of the VFF.
Pha also urged candidates to inspect the elections to ensure their fairness.
Meanwhile, many social activists have registered for seats in the parliament and People’s Councils in provincial, district and communal level. Their move aims to challenge the political monopoly of the Communist Party of Vietnam which has ruled the country for decades.
However, there is little chance for them to be included in the final list of candidates as the communists are expected to make all tricks to kick them out, as they did in previous elections for unwanted people, observers said.
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Vietnam Police in Districts Expanding Detention Facilities: Gen. Chung
Defend the Defenders: Police in many districts across Vietnam are expanding their detention facilities in a bid to keep detainees longer instead of handing them over to the provincial police, said Lieutenant General Nguyen Duc Chung, head of the Hanoi Police Department.
The situation must be halted and I suggest the Legal Committee of the country’s legislative body National Assembly to work on the issue in its next term, said Gen. Chung who is also chairman of the Hanoi city’s executive body People’s Committee.
When district detention facilities are expanded, they need more staff, Chung said.
Many Vietnamese detainees have been treated inhumanely in local detention facilities. A number of them have died or been severely injured while in police custody in the first two months of this year, according to state media and local social networks.