Defenders’ Weekly | Apr 10, 2016
================= Apr 4================
Vietnam: 7 Convicted in One Week
Human Rights Watch, Bangkok: The Vietnam government should immediately free prominent bloggers and activists imprisoned for exercising their rights, Human Rights Watch said today. During the last week of March 2016, Vietnam convicted seven bloggers and rights activists and sentenced them to prison.
“Vietnam has been on a tear over the past week, convicting seven activists for statements that would be a normal part of political life in most countries,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director. “The Vietnam government is making clear that the ‘human rights honeymoon’ during the TPP trade negotiations is over, raising a major challenge for President Obama and the US.”
On March 23, 2016, the People’s Court of Hanoi sentenced Nguyen Huu Vinh, a blogger, to five years in prison and his colleague, Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy, to three years for operating a website that provides links to social, political, economic, environmental, and cultural issues in Vietnam. The two were charged with “abusing rights to democracy and freedom to infringe upon the interests of the State” under article 258 of the penal code. Pham Doan Trang, the co-author of one of the articles cited in the indictment, sought to attend the trial as a concerned witness, but police detained her on the morning of the trial and only released her after the verdict was issued.
“Running a website that brings diverse views to Vietnamese readers shouldn’t be considered a crime,” Robertson said. “Given Vietnam’s pervasive control and censorship of the media, such websites are the only place many Vietnamese can see independent news and views.”
On March 24, the People’s Court of Thanh Hoa convicted the 73-year-old anti-corruption campaigner Dinh Tat Thang and sentenced him to seven months and 11 days in prison, also for violating article 258. The indictment reported by state media said that he “continuously sent letters to denounce, slander, insult and offend the individual honor, dignity and prestige of a number of leaders from the central level, from Thanh Hoa province and from the Party cell, the People’s Committee and the Police of Tho Xuan district.”
On August 5, 2015, Dinh Tat Thang wrote a letter to the Vietnam Fatherland Front, a party-controlled umbrella group of pro-government mass movements in Vietnam, denouncing the practice of faking paperwork to receive state benefits for wounded veterans in Thanh Hoa province. The letter cited the older brother of police director of Thanh Hoa province as an example of someone whom he alleged was not entitled to such benefits. Police arrested Dinh Tat Thang 11 days later. This is not the first time, though, that the authorities have imprisoned him for fighting corruption. In 2008, he was sentenced to nine months in prison, also for denouncing corrupt leaders, both local and national.
“How can Vietnam effectively fight corruption when it allows local officials to imprison people trying to expose it, such as Dinh Tat Thang,” Robertson said. “People who expose corruption in government should be protected, not imprisoned.”
On the morning of March 30, the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City sentenced a prominent blogger, Nguyen Dinh Ngoc, to four years in prison, to be followed by three years on probation that require him not to leave his residential ward.
In the afternoon, the same court convicted three land rights activists – Ngo Thi Minh Uoc, 57, Nguyen Thi Be Hai, 58, and Nguyen Thi Tri, 58 – to four years, three years, and three years respectively. They will also have to serve two to three additional years on probation with restricted movement after completing their sentences.
A former staff member at Ho Chi Minh City Television, Nguyen Dinh Ngoc, 50, also known as Nguyen Ngoc Gia, writes about social and political issues relating to democracy and human rights for the Vietnamese page of Radio Free Asia, and on politically independent websites including Dan Luan, Dan Lam Bao, and Dan Chim Viet. He has also expressed support for bloggers and activists imprisoned for exercising their basic rights, such as Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, Le Quoc Quan, Dinh Nguyen Kha, and Bui Thi Minh Hang.
According to the indictment reported by state media, on December 25, 2014, the police received correspondence from the Saigon Post and Telecommunications Service Corporation, contending that Nguyen Dinh Ngoc was using the internet to “disseminate articles that speak badly of the Party and the State of Vietnam.” He was arrested two days later and charged with “conducting propaganda against the state” under article 88 of the penal code.
Ngo Thi Minh Uoc, Nguyen Thi Be Hai, and Nguyen Thi Tri, were also convicted for “conducting propaganda against the state” under article 88. They were accused of waving flags and slogans that the government maintains “have the content opposing the state and propagandizing for a change of government” in a protest outside the US Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City on July 7, 2014. According to the jury, reported by state media, three activists’ actions were “very serious, infringing on national security, distorting, instigating, causing suspicion, and mistrust of the people in the [Communist] Party and state.” The three are long-time land rights activists from the Mekong Delta who have spent years petitioning local government for the loss of their land to no avail.
“By tightening the screws on these activists, and on independent bloggers and social commentators, Vietnam is challenging the US and the international community to react,” Robertson said. “These actions should be met with forceful condemnation that makes it clear to Hanoi that if it wants to earn the respect of trading partners, it must respect human rights.”
——————————————-
Vietnam Activist Detained upon Landing in Hanoi after Attending Regional CSO Meeting in Bangkok
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam’s security forces on April 4 detained Mai Van Tam when he arrived in the Hanoi-based Noi Bai International Airport from Bangkok where he attended a meeting of the ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC)/ASEAN People’s Forum (APF).
Security agents confiscated Mr. Tam’s passport and brought him to a police station near the airport for interrogation for eight hours from 4.30 PM. They also searched his personal items, including a cell phone, a pocket and baggage despite strong protest of the detainee.
At around 0.30 AM of April 5, police officers took him back to the airport without returning his passport, Mr. Tam told Defend the Defenders.
On the next day, Tam went to a police facility in Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street where security forces promised to return his passport. In the police facility, four security officers interrogated him and searched his items and body. After several hours, Tam was freed without his passport.
Tam reported that police in his central province of Quang Tri have continued to harass him, keeping him under close surveillance after he returned from Hanoi.
Mr. Tam, a member of the Brotherhood of Democracy, attended the 1st Regional Consultation of ACSC/APF and the Civil Society Innovation Initiative East Asia Consultation and Expansion Meeting held in Bangkok on March 31-April 3 in his capacity as a representative of the Vietnam Independent Civil Society Organizations Network (VICSON), a newly-established non-profit umbrella body which advocates, protects and exercises basic human rights in the Southeast Asian nation.
During the meetings with participation of 38 delegations from East Asia, delegates discussed the development of civil society and difficulties that civil societies face.
Vietnam had two separate delegations in the events, one formed by the VICSON and another from the Vietnam Unions of Friendship Organizations (VUFO), a government-organized agency. During the meetings, while the VICSON’s representatives raised issues on human rights violations in Vietnam, the VUFO addressed issues related to the Mekong River and the territorial and maritime disputes in the East Sea (South China Sea), which were not a focus of regional civil society organizations during the meetings.
During meetings in Bangkok, the two delegations had sharp disputes over the right to represent Vietnam in ACSC/APF. The VICSON says that the VUFO is a government agency and does not represent the general public, however, the latter has participated in the ACSC/APF since 2009.
The VICSON’s participation in the meetings in Bangkok is part of the organization’s National Process to participate in the ACSC/APF.
Due to international travel ban imposed by the government on many activists, the VICSON couldn’t send its key members to the meetings while the Vietnamese government sent many officials to the events who tended not to address issues related to human rights and democracy in the country.
Along with banning hundreds of social activists from going abroad, Vietnam’s security forces often detain social activists when they return from foreign countries where they meet with their foreign counterparts.
Vietnam has thousands of civil society groups under government control and at least 30 independent civil society groups. In October last year, then Minister of Public Security General Tran Dai Quang, who has been elected as the country’s president on April 2, labeled the independent CSOs as “reactionary groups.”
Vietnamese communists, who have controlled the country for decades, vow to keep the country under a one-party regime.
=============== April 5==================
Vietnam Freedom of Religions and Beliefs Improved: U.S. Official
Vietnam’s freedom of religions and beliefs has been improved but registration is still hard for unsanctioned religious groups, said David N. Saperstein, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom during his visit to the communist nation March 26-31.
Ambassador Saperstein said he met senior religious leaders in Hanoi and the Central Highlands as well as religious clerks and followers of registered and unregistered religions and sects. Some unregistered religious groups can practice their beliefs more safely.
Some drug treatment facilities are operated by unsanctioned groups, he said.
However, religious registration is still complicated and religious leaders are requested to ask for local authorities’ permissions for all activities, including going to the church, sending followers to religious schools for promotion, the ambassador said.
A number of unregistered religious groups of ethnic minorities have been suppressed by local authorities and not allowed to register, Mr. Saperstein said.
Some religious activists were reported to have been interrogated by local authorities after meeting with the U.S. diplomat.
Đại sứ David Saperstein nói về chuyến thăm Việt Nam
=== April 6====
New Law on Access to Information, Amended Press Law Restrict Freedom of Expression and Right to Know: VCHR
The amended Press Law and the new Law on Access to Information, adopted by the communist-controlled National Assembly on April 5-6, are the new tools of Vietnam’s arsenal of repressive legislation, just as the authorities are launching a fierce crackdown on freedom of expression in Vietnam, said the Paris-based Vietnam Committee for Human Rights (VCHR).
These laws confirm once again the government’s all-out offensive against human rights. Under these laws, the one-party state is empowered to stifle all free debate on politics, history, religion and social issues, and hide any information it wants from its population, said VCHR’s President Vo Van Ai.
The amended Press Law appears more like a shield against anti-government criticism than a law on press freedom. It increases the number of “prohibited acts” from four to thirteen. All are unduly vague and place wide-ranging restrictions on the media. Banned activities include publishing “distorted information about the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” perceived to “defame the people’s government”, “run contrary to the country’s international unity policies”, “cause alarm amongst the people” or “sow division between the people and State authorities”. The diffusion of “confidential information” and “state secrets” is banned, and the lack of a clear definition of these terms enables the authorities to apply this classification to virtually any document. Contrary to recommendations by the UN and civil society to bring Vietnam’s laws into line with international standards and norms, the amended Press Law continues to criminalize a wide range of activities which are left solely to the appreciation of the state, such as “propagating depraved lifestyles”, “violating the country’s traditions and values”, or “distorting history, denying revolutionary achievements or offending the nation or its heroes,” said the VCHR in its press release on April 6.
Concerning freedom of religion or belief, the law bans “superstition”, without defining the term, and incorporates “national security” provisions from the Criminal Code such as “causing division between non-religious and religious people, people of different religions, between religious people and state authorities” which are routinely invoked to suppress independent religious activities. More disturbingly, the law adds a new prohibition on information which “offends people’s religious belief”. This evokes the “defamation of religions” debate which has raised grave concerns in the UN and within civil society worldwide because it questions the right to freedom of expression and the universality of human rights, the press released said.
The amended Press Law also maintains state control on journalists by continuing to require that they re-apply for their press cards every five years. The law comes into force on January 1, 2017.
The new Law on Access to Information, which takes effect on July 1, 2018, raises serious concerns regarding freedom of expression and the right to know, or the right of individuals to access information held by public authorities. The 2015 draft of this law was severely criticized by the Centre for Law and Democracy, who placed Vietnam near the bottom (93rd out of 102) of a list of countries rated for their access to information legislation. First and foremost, citizens’ right to access to information does not appear to be an inherent right in Vietnam, but one which only exists as regulated by law.
Furthermore, the Law on Access to Information does not override existing legislation, but stipulates a number of grounds for restricting access to information which are inacceptable under international law. These include “state secrets”, which are not defined, or vague terms such as “social order and ethics”, “State security”, “interests of the nation, people and State”, or “propaganda”. Moreover, the public will only have access to information produced after the law comes into force, and only information declassified by government. There is no time frame provided for the declassification of information
In addition, the law is dissuasive and cumbersome, requiring citizens who seek access to information explain why they need this information, and provide details of their names, addresses and ID or passport numbers. Under the law, the authorities are not obliged to provide receipts to those who request information, which deprives citizens of proof in case of dispute. Where access to information is denied, the authorities do not have to provide the reasons for their refusal, and the citizens have no alternative mechanisms of recourse. “Wrongful use of information” is subject to sanctions.
Also of concern is the lack of protection for “whistleblowers”, people who release information which reveals wrongdoing. Vietnamese laws provide heavy penalties for such acts under a range of different pretexts, such as the case of Nguyen Manh Ha and Tran Anh Hung, sentenced respectively to five and six years in prison in October 2013 for leaking a draft government report on a controversial development project in Nha Trang to the media. They were accused of “revealing state secrets”.
—————————-
Catholic Followers in Huong Phuong Parish Severely Assaulted by Police
On the afternoon of April 6, the authorities of Vietnam’s central province of Quang Binh sent a large number of police officers to destroy the decoration of the Catholic church of Huong Phuong parish, Vinh diocese which was made for Easter celebration. When followers of the parish protested their demolition, police responded by firing tear gas and beating with electric batons.
Father Phero Le Nam Cao reported that four followers were severely injured with bleeding on their faces while one sustained critical eye injuries.
Some followers were detained, the priest added.
Huong Phuong parish has 3,400 followers. Local authorities have harassed them many times during Catholic celebrations.
Giáo dân Hướng Phương bị công an Quảng Bình đàn áp và ném lựu đạn cay
=== April 7===
44 Law Students Demand Hanoi Court not to Stop People from Attending Open Trials
Defend the Defenders: A group of 44 students from the Hanoi Law University have sent a joint letter to the Hanoi People’s Court to demand the agency not to prevent people, including students, from attending open trials.
Law students should attend trials to enrich their experience for their professional career, the students said, adding banning people from attending open trials is a serious violation of the country’s 2013 Constitution and laws.
The People’s Court must provide documentations of open trials for law students, they said.
The brave students said they would hold dialogue with the chief of the Hanoi People’s Court to discuss his decision which has stopped people, including law students, from attending open trials.
Hanoi-based human rights lawyer Le Luan said he supports the signed students, and is ready to help them if they meet difficulties or reprisals of authorities and their university against their joint letter.
In Vietnam, authorities have banned social activists and ordinary people from attending political trials and other hearings on sensitive cases although the trials are open.
Even family members of the defendants in political cases are often not allowed to enter the courtrooms.
On March 23, many social activists and foreign diplomats tried to go to the open trial against prominent blogger Nguyen Huu Vinh and his assistant Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy on charge of “abusing democratic freedoms” under Article 258 of the country’s Penal Code, however, they were stopped outside of the courtroom which was full of police officers and “selected members of the public”. The People’s Court of Hanoi turned down their request to observe and did not allow Mr. Martin Patzelt, a member of the German Parliament and member of its Human Rights Committee, to attend the trial.
In order to prevent social activists from gathering outside of courtrooms to support defendants on political charges, the Ministry of Public Security issued Circular 13, effective from March 24, this year to empower security forces to disperse them and arrest those who are considered as leaders. The detainees will face allegation of causing public disorders with a maximum of seven years in prison if convicted, according to Article 245 of the country’s Penal Code.
The Paris-based Vietnam Committee for Human Rights (VCHR) said the circular is anti-constitutional and that Minister of Public Security General Tran Dai Quang, who was elected as the country’s president on April 2, is overstepping his powers and trampling on the rights enshrined in Vietnam’s 2013 Constitution.
=== ============== April 08===============
Eight Vietnamese Activists Brutally Beaten, Detained While Talking about Human Rights, Democracy
Defend the Defend: Security forces in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi on April 8 violently suppressed a meeting of local activists, brutally beating and detaining eight of them on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the pro-democracy group Bloc 8406.
Bloggers Truong Dung, Trung Nghia, Tu Minh Tu, and Thai Van Dung, land petitioner Can Thi Theu and four other people were arrested by plainclothes agents when they, together with dozens of other activists, were sitting in a cafeteria in Lang Ha Street very close to the U.S. Embassy.
Witnesses said security agents brutally assaulted Dung, Nghia and Tu before taking them to a bus which went to a police station in Ha Dong district, about ten kilometers from the cafeteria. Police also dispersed other activists.
Many activists and land petitioners gathered outside of the police station to demand for their unconditional and immediate release.
In late afternoon, police released blogger Tu, who suffered a number of serious injuries on his body, including those on his head, face and feet.
Police kept other detainees until mid-night of Friday. The freed activists said police severely beat them and confiscated their cell phones, memory sticks and other electronic devices.
The suppression is made on the Friday when newly-elected Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc submitted his proposals for his cabinet for the next five years to the country’s highest legislative body National Assembly for formal approval. Earlier this week, the rubber-stamp parliament elected Minister of Public Security General Tran Dai Quang as the country’s president.
Many police generals have been promoted to key positions in state and government agencies, including President Quang, Prosecutor General Nguyen Hoa Binh, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh and Head of the communist party’s Commission for Organization Pham Minh Chinh.
Vietnam’s communist government will continue its harassment against political dissidents, social activists and human rights defenders in a bid to keep the country under a one-party regime amid growing public dissatisfaction on systemic corruption, poor socio-economic management and weak response to China’s violations of the country’s sovereignty, foreign and local observers said.
In the last eight days of March, Vietnam sentenced seven bloggers and dissidents to between two and five years on charges of conducting anti-state activities. Among those jailed are prominent bloggers Nguyen Huu Vinh (aka Anh Ba Sam) and Nguyen Ngoc Gia (Nguyen Dinh Ngoc).
Ten years ago, on April 8, 2006, 118 veteran activists formed a pro-democracy bloc called 8406 which strived to fight for multi-party democracy. Vietnam’s government considers the Bloc 8406 as an anti-state organization and has imprisoned a number of its members, including human rights lawyers Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, Catholic priest Nguyen Van Ly, and Tran Anh Kim.
On December 16 last year, Vietnam arrested human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai and his assistant Le Thu Ha on allegation of anti-state propaganda under Article 88 of the country’s Penal Code. The arrests have drawn domestic and international concerns as many Western governments and human rights urged Vietnam to drop the charges against the duo and release them unconditionally and immediately.
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April 11, 2016
Vietnam Human Rights Defenders Weekly April 4-10, 2016: Hanoi Police Detain Eight Activists, Brutally Beating Them before Release on 10th Anniversary of Bloc 8406
by Nhan Quyen • [Human Rights], DEFENDER’S WEEKLY
Defenders’ Weekly | Apr 10, 2016
On April 8, dozens of Vietnamese activists gathered in a cafeteria in Hanoi to mark the 10th anniversary of the pro-democracy group Bloc 8406 and discuss situation of arrested human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai and his assistant Le Thu Ha. Local security forces blocked the cafeteria in Lang Ha Street near the U.S. Embassy, detaining eight activists including former prisoners of conscience Nguyen Trung Nghia and Thai Van Dung, activists Truong Dung, Tu Anh Tu and Can Thi Theu and four land petitioners. Plainclothes agents brutally assaulted Nghia, Truong Dung, Tu under the witness of hundreds of people on the street.
Police released Tu on late afternoon and kept others until mid-night of the same day.
Police in the central province of Quang Binh on April 6 used tear gas and electric batons to suppress Catholic followers in Huong Phuong parish, Vinh diocese when the followers protested the local authorities’ destruction of their decoration on the Easter. Priest Phero Le Nam Cao reported that four followers were beaten with bleeding on their faces while one received eye injuries.
On April 4, Mai Van Tam who represented the newly-formed Vietnam Independent Civil Society Organizations Network (VICSON) in meetings of the ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC)/ASEAN People’s Forum (APF) in Bangkok on March 31-April 3, was detained and questioned by security forces upon landing in the Hanoi-based Noi Bai International Airport. After eight hours of interrogation, police released him in very early morning of Tuesday without returning his passport.
During the 1st Regional Consultation of ACSC/APF and the Civil Society Innovation Initiative East Asia Consultation and Expansion Meeting held in Thailand’s capital city with participation of 38 delegations from East Asia, delegates discussed the development of civil society and difficulties faced. Vietnam had two separate delegations in the events, one formed by the VICSON and another from the Vietnam Unions of Friendship Organizations (VUFO), a government-based agency. While the VICSON’s representatives raised issues on human rights violations in Vietnam, the VUFO addressed issues related to the Mekong River and the territorial and maritime disputes in the East Sea (South China Sea), which were not a focus of regional civil society organizations during the meetings.
The Vietnamese rubber stamp parliament this week adopted the amended Press Law and the new Law on Access to Information, adding new tools to Vietnam’s arsenal of repressive legislation, just as the authorities are launching a fierce crackdown on freedom of expression in the Southeast Asian nation, said the Paris-based Vietnam Committee for Human Rights (VCHR).
“These laws confirm once again the government’s all-out offensive against human rights. Under these laws, the one-party state is empowered to stifle all free debate on politics, history, religion and social issues, and hide any information it wants from its population,” said VCHR’s President Vo Van Ai.
And many other important news
================= Apr 4================
Vietnam: 7 Convicted in One Week
Human Rights Watch, Bangkok: The Vietnam government should immediately free prominent bloggers and activists imprisoned for exercising their rights, Human Rights Watch said today. During the last week of March 2016, Vietnam convicted seven bloggers and rights activists and sentenced them to prison.
“Vietnam has been on a tear over the past week, convicting seven activists for statements that would be a normal part of political life in most countries,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director. “The Vietnam government is making clear that the ‘human rights honeymoon’ during the TPP trade negotiations is over, raising a major challenge for President Obama and the US.”
On March 23, 2016, the People’s Court of Hanoi sentenced Nguyen Huu Vinh, a blogger, to five years in prison and his colleague, Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy, to three years for operating a website that provides links to social, political, economic, environmental, and cultural issues in Vietnam. The two were charged with “abusing rights to democracy and freedom to infringe upon the interests of the State” under article 258 of the penal code. Pham Doan Trang, the co-author of one of the articles cited in the indictment, sought to attend the trial as a concerned witness, but police detained her on the morning of the trial and only released her after the verdict was issued.
“Running a website that brings diverse views to Vietnamese readers shouldn’t be considered a crime,” Robertson said. “Given Vietnam’s pervasive control and censorship of the media, such websites are the only place many Vietnamese can see independent news and views.”
On March 24, the People’s Court of Thanh Hoa convicted the 73-year-old anti-corruption campaigner Dinh Tat Thang and sentenced him to seven months and 11 days in prison, also for violating article 258. The indictment reported by state media said that he “continuously sent letters to denounce, slander, insult and offend the individual honor, dignity and prestige of a number of leaders from the central level, from Thanh Hoa province and from the Party cell, the People’s Committee and the Police of Tho Xuan district.”
On August 5, 2015, Dinh Tat Thang wrote a letter to the Vietnam Fatherland Front, a party-controlled umbrella group of pro-government mass movements in Vietnam, denouncing the practice of faking paperwork to receive state benefits for wounded veterans in Thanh Hoa province. The letter cited the older brother of police director of Thanh Hoa province as an example of someone whom he alleged was not entitled to such benefits. Police arrested Dinh Tat Thang 11 days later. This is not the first time, though, that the authorities have imprisoned him for fighting corruption. In 2008, he was sentenced to nine months in prison, also for denouncing corrupt leaders, both local and national.
“How can Vietnam effectively fight corruption when it allows local officials to imprison people trying to expose it, such as Dinh Tat Thang,” Robertson said. “People who expose corruption in government should be protected, not imprisoned.”
On the morning of March 30, the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City sentenced a prominent blogger, Nguyen Dinh Ngoc, to four years in prison, to be followed by three years on probation that require him not to leave his residential ward.
In the afternoon, the same court convicted three land rights activists – Ngo Thi Minh Uoc, 57, Nguyen Thi Be Hai, 58, and Nguyen Thi Tri, 58 – to four years, three years, and three years respectively. They will also have to serve two to three additional years on probation with restricted movement after completing their sentences.
A former staff member at Ho Chi Minh City Television, Nguyen Dinh Ngoc, 50, also known as Nguyen Ngoc Gia, writes about social and political issues relating to democracy and human rights for the Vietnamese page of Radio Free Asia, and on politically independent websites including Dan Luan, Dan Lam Bao, and Dan Chim Viet. He has also expressed support for bloggers and activists imprisoned for exercising their basic rights, such as Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, Le Quoc Quan, Dinh Nguyen Kha, and Bui Thi Minh Hang.
According to the indictment reported by state media, on December 25, 2014, the police received correspondence from the Saigon Post and Telecommunications Service Corporation, contending that Nguyen Dinh Ngoc was using the internet to “disseminate articles that speak badly of the Party and the State of Vietnam.” He was arrested two days later and charged with “conducting propaganda against the state” under article 88 of the penal code.
Ngo Thi Minh Uoc, Nguyen Thi Be Hai, and Nguyen Thi Tri, were also convicted for “conducting propaganda against the state” under article 88. They were accused of waving flags and slogans that the government maintains “have the content opposing the state and propagandizing for a change of government” in a protest outside the US Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City on July 7, 2014. According to the jury, reported by state media, three activists’ actions were “very serious, infringing on national security, distorting, instigating, causing suspicion, and mistrust of the people in the [Communist] Party and state.” The three are long-time land rights activists from the Mekong Delta who have spent years petitioning local government for the loss of their land to no avail.
“By tightening the screws on these activists, and on independent bloggers and social commentators, Vietnam is challenging the US and the international community to react,” Robertson said. “These actions should be met with forceful condemnation that makes it clear to Hanoi that if it wants to earn the respect of trading partners, it must respect human rights.”
——————————————-
Vietnam Activist Detained upon Landing in Hanoi after Attending Regional CSO Meeting in Bangkok
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam’s security forces on April 4 detained Mai Van Tam when he arrived in the Hanoi-based Noi Bai International Airport from Bangkok where he attended a meeting of the ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC)/ASEAN People’s Forum (APF).
Security agents confiscated Mr. Tam’s passport and brought him to a police station near the airport for interrogation for eight hours from 4.30 PM. They also searched his personal items, including a cell phone, a pocket and baggage despite strong protest of the detainee.
At around 0.30 AM of April 5, police officers took him back to the airport without returning his passport, Mr. Tam told Defend the Defenders.
On the next day, Tam went to a police facility in Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street where security forces promised to return his passport. In the police facility, four security officers interrogated him and searched his items and body. After several hours, Tam was freed without his passport.
Tam reported that police in his central province of Quang Tri have continued to harass him, keeping him under close surveillance after he returned from Hanoi.
Mr. Tam, a member of the Brotherhood of Democracy, attended the 1st Regional Consultation of ACSC/APF and the Civil Society Innovation Initiative East Asia Consultation and Expansion Meeting held in Bangkok on March 31-April 3 in his capacity as a representative of the Vietnam Independent Civil Society Organizations Network (VICSON), a newly-established non-profit umbrella body which advocates, protects and exercises basic human rights in the Southeast Asian nation.
During the meetings with participation of 38 delegations from East Asia, delegates discussed the development of civil society and difficulties that civil societies face.
Vietnam had two separate delegations in the events, one formed by the VICSON and another from the Vietnam Unions of Friendship Organizations (VUFO), a government-organized agency. During the meetings, while the VICSON’s representatives raised issues on human rights violations in Vietnam, the VUFO addressed issues related to the Mekong River and the territorial and maritime disputes in the East Sea (South China Sea), which were not a focus of regional civil society organizations during the meetings.
During meetings in Bangkok, the two delegations had sharp disputes over the right to represent Vietnam in ACSC/APF. The VICSON says that the VUFO is a government agency and does not represent the general public, however, the latter has participated in the ACSC/APF since 2009.
The VICSON’s participation in the meetings in Bangkok is part of the organization’s National Process to participate in the ACSC/APF.
Due to international travel ban imposed by the government on many activists, the VICSON couldn’t send its key members to the meetings while the Vietnamese government sent many officials to the events who tended not to address issues related to human rights and democracy in the country.
Along with banning hundreds of social activists from going abroad, Vietnam’s security forces often detain social activists when they return from foreign countries where they meet with their foreign counterparts.
Vietnam has thousands of civil society groups under government control and at least 30 independent civil society groups. In October last year, then Minister of Public Security General Tran Dai Quang, who has been elected as the country’s president on April 2, labeled the independent CSOs as “reactionary groups.”
Vietnamese communists, who have controlled the country for decades, vow to keep the country under a one-party regime.
=============== April 5==================
Vietnam Freedom of Religions and Beliefs Improved: U.S. Official
Vietnam’s freedom of religions and beliefs has been improved but registration is still hard for unsanctioned religious groups, said David N. Saperstein, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom during his visit to the communist nation March 26-31.
Ambassador Saperstein said he met senior religious leaders in Hanoi and the Central Highlands as well as religious clerks and followers of registered and unregistered religions and sects. Some unregistered religious groups can practice their beliefs more safely.
Some drug treatment facilities are operated by unsanctioned groups, he said.
However, religious registration is still complicated and religious leaders are requested to ask for local authorities’ permissions for all activities, including going to the church, sending followers to religious schools for promotion, the ambassador said.
A number of unregistered religious groups of ethnic minorities have been suppressed by local authorities and not allowed to register, Mr. Saperstein said.
Some religious activists were reported to have been interrogated by local authorities after meeting with the U.S. diplomat.
Đại sứ David Saperstein nói về chuyến thăm Việt Nam
=== April 6====
New Law on Access to Information, Amended Press Law Restrict Freedom of Expression and Right to Know: VCHR
The amended Press Law and the new Law on Access to Information, adopted by the communist-controlled National Assembly on April 5-6, are the new tools of Vietnam’s arsenal of repressive legislation, just as the authorities are launching a fierce crackdown on freedom of expression in Vietnam, said the Paris-based Vietnam Committee for Human Rights (VCHR).
These laws confirm once again the government’s all-out offensive against human rights. Under these laws, the one-party state is empowered to stifle all free debate on politics, history, religion and social issues, and hide any information it wants from its population, said VCHR’s President Vo Van Ai.
The amended Press Law appears more like a shield against anti-government criticism than a law on press freedom. It increases the number of “prohibited acts” from four to thirteen. All are unduly vague and place wide-ranging restrictions on the media. Banned activities include publishing “distorted information about the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” perceived to “defame the people’s government”, “run contrary to the country’s international unity policies”, “cause alarm amongst the people” or “sow division between the people and State authorities”. The diffusion of “confidential information” and “state secrets” is banned, and the lack of a clear definition of these terms enables the authorities to apply this classification to virtually any document. Contrary to recommendations by the UN and civil society to bring Vietnam’s laws into line with international standards and norms, the amended Press Law continues to criminalize a wide range of activities which are left solely to the appreciation of the state, such as “propagating depraved lifestyles”, “violating the country’s traditions and values”, or “distorting history, denying revolutionary achievements or offending the nation or its heroes,” said the VCHR in its press release on April 6.
Concerning freedom of religion or belief, the law bans “superstition”, without defining the term, and incorporates “national security” provisions from the Criminal Code such as “causing division between non-religious and religious people, people of different religions, between religious people and state authorities” which are routinely invoked to suppress independent religious activities. More disturbingly, the law adds a new prohibition on information which “offends people’s religious belief”. This evokes the “defamation of religions” debate which has raised grave concerns in the UN and within civil society worldwide because it questions the right to freedom of expression and the universality of human rights, the press released said.
The amended Press Law also maintains state control on journalists by continuing to require that they re-apply for their press cards every five years. The law comes into force on January 1, 2017.
The new Law on Access to Information, which takes effect on July 1, 2018, raises serious concerns regarding freedom of expression and the right to know, or the right of individuals to access information held by public authorities. The 2015 draft of this law was severely criticized by the Centre for Law and Democracy, who placed Vietnam near the bottom (93rd out of 102) of a list of countries rated for their access to information legislation. First and foremost, citizens’ right to access to information does not appear to be an inherent right in Vietnam, but one which only exists as regulated by law.
Furthermore, the Law on Access to Information does not override existing legislation, but stipulates a number of grounds for restricting access to information which are inacceptable under international law. These include “state secrets”, which are not defined, or vague terms such as “social order and ethics”, “State security”, “interests of the nation, people and State”, or “propaganda”. Moreover, the public will only have access to information produced after the law comes into force, and only information declassified by government. There is no time frame provided for the declassification of information
In addition, the law is dissuasive and cumbersome, requiring citizens who seek access to information explain why they need this information, and provide details of their names, addresses and ID or passport numbers. Under the law, the authorities are not obliged to provide receipts to those who request information, which deprives citizens of proof in case of dispute. Where access to information is denied, the authorities do not have to provide the reasons for their refusal, and the citizens have no alternative mechanisms of recourse. “Wrongful use of information” is subject to sanctions.
Also of concern is the lack of protection for “whistleblowers”, people who release information which reveals wrongdoing. Vietnamese laws provide heavy penalties for such acts under a range of different pretexts, such as the case of Nguyen Manh Ha and Tran Anh Hung, sentenced respectively to five and six years in prison in October 2013 for leaking a draft government report on a controversial development project in Nha Trang to the media. They were accused of “revealing state secrets”.
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Catholic Followers in Huong Phuong Parish Severely Assaulted by Police
On the afternoon of April 6, the authorities of Vietnam’s central province of Quang Binh sent a large number of police officers to destroy the decoration of the Catholic church of Huong Phuong parish, Vinh diocese which was made for Easter celebration. When followers of the parish protested their demolition, police responded by firing tear gas and beating with electric batons.
Father Phero Le Nam Cao reported that four followers were severely injured with bleeding on their faces while one sustained critical eye injuries.
Some followers were detained, the priest added.
Huong Phuong parish has 3,400 followers. Local authorities have harassed them many times during Catholic celebrations.
Giáo dân Hướng Phương bị công an Quảng Bình đàn áp và ném lựu đạn cay
=== April 7===
44 Law Students Demand Hanoi Court not to Stop People from Attending Open Trials
Defend the Defenders: A group of 44 students from the Hanoi Law University have sent a joint letter to the Hanoi People’s Court to demand the agency not to prevent people, including students, from attending open trials.
Law students should attend trials to enrich their experience for their professional career, the students said, adding banning people from attending open trials is a serious violation of the country’s 2013 Constitution and laws.
The People’s Court must provide documentations of open trials for law students, they said.
The brave students said they would hold dialogue with the chief of the Hanoi People’s Court to discuss his decision which has stopped people, including law students, from attending open trials.
Hanoi-based human rights lawyer Le Luan said he supports the signed students, and is ready to help them if they meet difficulties or reprisals of authorities and their university against their joint letter.
In Vietnam, authorities have banned social activists and ordinary people from attending political trials and other hearings on sensitive cases although the trials are open.
Even family members of the defendants in political cases are often not allowed to enter the courtrooms.
On March 23, many social activists and foreign diplomats tried to go to the open trial against prominent blogger Nguyen Huu Vinh and his assistant Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy on charge of “abusing democratic freedoms” under Article 258 of the country’s Penal Code, however, they were stopped outside of the courtroom which was full of police officers and “selected members of the public”. The People’s Court of Hanoi turned down their request to observe and did not allow Mr. Martin Patzelt, a member of the German Parliament and member of its Human Rights Committee, to attend the trial.
In order to prevent social activists from gathering outside of courtrooms to support defendants on political charges, the Ministry of Public Security issued Circular 13, effective from March 24, this year to empower security forces to disperse them and arrest those who are considered as leaders. The detainees will face allegation of causing public disorders with a maximum of seven years in prison if convicted, according to Article 245 of the country’s Penal Code.
The Paris-based Vietnam Committee for Human Rights (VCHR) said the circular is anti-constitutional and that Minister of Public Security General Tran Dai Quang, who was elected as the country’s president on April 2, is overstepping his powers and trampling on the rights enshrined in Vietnam’s 2013 Constitution.
=== ============== April 08===============
Eight Vietnamese Activists Brutally Beaten, Detained While Talking about Human Rights, Democracy
Defend the Defend: Security forces in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi on April 8 violently suppressed a meeting of local activists, brutally beating and detaining eight of them on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the pro-democracy group Bloc 8406.
Bloggers Truong Dung, Trung Nghia, Tu Minh Tu, and Thai Van Dung, land petitioner Can Thi Theu and four other people were arrested by plainclothes agents when they, together with dozens of other activists, were sitting in a cafeteria in Lang Ha Street very close to the U.S. Embassy.
Witnesses said security agents brutally assaulted Dung, Nghia and Tu before taking them to a bus which went to a police station in Ha Dong district, about ten kilometers from the cafeteria. Police also dispersed other activists.
Many activists and land petitioners gathered outside of the police station to demand for their unconditional and immediate release.
In late afternoon, police released blogger Tu, who suffered a number of serious injuries on his body, including those on his head, face and feet.
Police kept other detainees until mid-night of Friday. The freed activists said police severely beat them and confiscated their cell phones, memory sticks and other electronic devices.
The suppression is made on the Friday when newly-elected Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc submitted his proposals for his cabinet for the next five years to the country’s highest legislative body National Assembly for formal approval. Earlier this week, the rubber-stamp parliament elected Minister of Public Security General Tran Dai Quang as the country’s president.
Many police generals have been promoted to key positions in state and government agencies, including President Quang, Prosecutor General Nguyen Hoa Binh, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh and Head of the communist party’s Commission for Organization Pham Minh Chinh.
Vietnam’s communist government will continue its harassment against political dissidents, social activists and human rights defenders in a bid to keep the country under a one-party regime amid growing public dissatisfaction on systemic corruption, poor socio-economic management and weak response to China’s violations of the country’s sovereignty, foreign and local observers said.
In the last eight days of March, Vietnam sentenced seven bloggers and dissidents to between two and five years on charges of conducting anti-state activities. Among those jailed are prominent bloggers Nguyen Huu Vinh (aka Anh Ba Sam) and Nguyen Ngoc Gia (Nguyen Dinh Ngoc).
Ten years ago, on April 8, 2006, 118 veteran activists formed a pro-democracy bloc called 8406 which strived to fight for multi-party democracy. Vietnam’s government considers the Bloc 8406 as an anti-state organization and has imprisoned a number of its members, including human rights lawyers Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, Catholic priest Nguyen Van Ly, and Tran Anh Kim.
On December 16 last year, Vietnam arrested human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai and his assistant Le Thu Ha on allegation of anti-state propaganda under Article 88 of the country’s Penal Code. The arrests have drawn domestic and international concerns as many Western governments and human rights urged Vietnam to drop the charges against the duo and release them unconditionally and immediately.