Defend the Defenders | April 02, 2017
===== March 27 =====
Vietnam Court Sentences Anti-Corruption Activist to 4 ½ Years in Jail for Bribery
Defend the Defenders: After a four-day hearing, the People’s Court in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong on March 27 afternoon sentenced Tran Minh Loi, a well-known anti-corruption activist, to four and a half years in jail on charges of giving bribes, local media reported.
The jury concluded that the bribes allegedly given by Loi and other defendants, namely Nguyen Xuan An and Huynh Kim Cao Tri, in two separate cases were serious offenses leading to negative public opinions in the long term and affecting the strictness of the law.
According to the jury, Loi himself gave bribes at Agribank Dak Lak and incited other defendants to bribe the police in Dak Mil district – behavior that should be severely punished.
The jury also turned down defenses from Loi’s lawyers, six of whom insisted that Loi was innocent.
Lawyer Le Xuan Anh Phu pointed out that Loi helped local people collect evidence in corruption cases, including bribe solicitation, activities whose purpose is positive and whose means are not harmful to society.
The lawyers all insisted that sentencing Loi to a jai term would discourage people from fighting against corruption in the future, the Tien Phong newspaper said.
Lighter jail terms were given to six other defendants.
===== March 29 =====
Jailed Vietnamese Blogger ‘Me Nam’ Awarded with U.S. International Women of Courage 2017
Defend the Defenders: Vietnamese blogger and environmental activist Mẹ Nấm or “Mother Mushroom,” whose real name is Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, has been awarded with the 2017 U.S. Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award.
The award ceremony, led by U.S. First Lady Melania Trump and Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas A. Shannon, took place on March 29 at the Department of State.
The U.S. Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award annually recognizes women around the globe who have demonstrated exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for peace, justice, human rights, gender equality, and women’s empowerment, often at great personal risk.
Upon hearing the news, Ms. Quynh’s mother, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Lan, told the RFA outlet that she didn’t believe the news until she read the Facebook post by U.S. Ambassador.
In his Facebook post, U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius wrote “On March 29, the U.S. Department of State will recognize Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh in absentia with the Secretary of State’s International Woman of Courage Award for her bravery for raising civil society issues, inspiring peaceful change, calling for greater government transparency and access to fundamental human rights, and for being a voice for the freedom of expression.”
Ms. Quynh, a co-founder of the Network of Vietnamese Bloggers, was arrested on October 10, 2016 on allegations of “conducting propaganda against the state” under Article 88 of Vietnam’s Penal Code. She has been held incommunicado since then and faces imprisonment of up to 20 years if she is convicted.
In 2015, Quynh was honored with the Civil Rights Defender of the Year Award by the Stockholm-based organization Civil Rights Defenders.
——————–
Vietnam, UK Cooperate to Combat Human Trafficking, Modern Slavery
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam and the United Kingdom (UK) will increase their cooperation in the fight against human trafficking and modern slavery, state media reported.
The pledge was made during a workshop jointly held in the central city of Danang by the British Embassy in Vietnam and the United Nations Action for Cooperation Against Trafficking in Persons (UN-ACT).
The event, promoting cooperation opportunities in combating human trafficking and slavery today, drew in nearly 100 representatives from the UK’s Home Office, the National Crime Agency (NCA), the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children’s Child Trafficking Advice Centre, and the UN-ACT.
David Pennant, UK Home Office senior responsible officer for Vietnam, said the conference brought together modern slavery and human trafficking experts from the United Kingdom to promote the definition of modern slavery, introduce the United Kingdom’s world-leading Modern Slavery Act 2015 and share the United Kingdom’s expertise and best practices in identifying, investigating and disrupting acts of modern slavery.
“We are already working closely with the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Vietnam. I highly appreciate the efforts of our counterparts, over the years, to battle the crime, prosecute offenders and support human trafficking victims, helping them reintegrate into the community,” he said.
Speaking at the event, Colonel Le Van Chuong, deputy director general of the Police Department under Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security, highlighted the various memoranda of understanding signed by Vietnam and the UK on anti-human trafficking.
Since 2011, Vietnam has detected over 2,000 cases of human trafficking, with nearly 4,000 victims trafficked overseas.
Last week, in her report posted on The Guardian, Amelia Gentlemen reported that many Vietnamese children had been trafficked to the UK where they were forced to plant marijuana in closed buildings, and even in a nuclear bunker. You can read the whole report here: Trafficked and enslaved: the teenagers tending UK cannabis farms .
Despite the fact that Vietnam is consistently one of the biggest source countries for trafficked slave labor into the UK, there has never been a successful prosecution of a people trafficker from Vietnam, said Kevin Hyland, UK’s independent anti-slavery commissioner. He also criticized UK’s police forces for failing to tackle the issue of enslaved Vietnamese teenagers being trafficked to the country to work in illegal cannabis farms.
Human trafficking occurs through various ways, such as illegal labor export, tourism, or on the pretext of visiting relatives abroad; the victims are then sold and sent to a third country.
===== March 30 =====
Vietnam Says U.S. Award to Detained Blogger Inappropriate
Vietnam has slammed the award granted to blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (known as Mẹ Nấm or “Mother Mushroom”) by the U.S. Department of State as an action lacking objectiveness and being inappropriate and not beneficial to the development of bilateral ties.
The statement was made by spokesman Le Hai Binh of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at a regular press conference on March 30 in Hanoi.
The response was made after the U.S. Department of State on March 29 held a ceremony to grant the Vietnamese blogger, who is now “detained as part of an investigation into her violation of the law,” with the International Women of Courage Award 2017.
Mr. Binh reiterated Vietnam’s consistent policy of protecting and promoting the basic human rights of its people, including women’s rights.
He affirmed that Vietnam had relentlessly tried to ensure and improve human rights and that its efforts had been recognized and highly regarded by the international community.
——————–
Ha Tinh Fishermen Protest Suppressed, Elderly Woman Falls Unconscious
Defend the Defenders: On March 30, authorities in Ha Tinh deployed large numbers of police officers, militia and thugs to violently disperse a peaceful demonstration of local fishermen who are seeking compensation for the environmental consequences of a waste discharge by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant in the province.
When more than 300 residents of Thach Bang commune, Loc Ha district gathered in front of the communal government building to demand compensation and request Formosa to leave the country, police and militia blocked the protestors while thugs attacked them, robbing them of their cameras and cell phones, and later beating many of them.
Many residents sustained severe injuries, and one elderly woman fell unconscious. She was brought by villagers to a district hospital for urgent treatment.
Fishermen in Thach Bang conducted peaceful demonstrations on three consecutive days from March 28-30 after only a few residents of the commune were approved for being granted compensation from the total sum of 500 million US dollars pledged by Formosa. They demand transparency of the decision-making process for compensation and request the Taiwanese group to leave Vietnam.
Additional reading: Ha Tinh Villagers Protest in Bid to Get Formosa Payouts in Vietnam
===== March 31 =====
Blogger Pham Thanh Nghien among Five Finalists for 2017 Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk
Defend the Defenders: The Dublin-based organization Front Line Defenders has selected Vietnamese blogger Pham Thanh Nghien as one of its five final contenders for its Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk this year, the human rights advocacy group announced on its website.
Blogger Pham Thanh Nghien worked to raise awareness of the violations committed against, and to defend the rights of, relatives of fishermen killed by Chinese patrols. In 2008, she was arrested and later sentenced to four years in prison on charges of “anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of Vietnam’s Penal Code.
Following her release, she was kept under house arrest, during which time she spearheaded numerous human rights campaigns and co-founded the renowned Vietnamese Bloggers’ Network.
She has been constantly harassed since. The local police in Haiphong city raided her home, blocked her from attending medical appointments, and refused to deliver her a marriage certificate.
Nghien has also survived numerous physical assaults aimed at stopping her brave, peaceful work uncovering and raising awareness about human rights violations in Vietnam.
The annual Front Line Defenders’ Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk was established in 2005 to honor the work of human rights defenders who, through non-violent work, courageously make outstanding contributions to the promotion and protection of the human rights of others, often at great personal risk to themselves.
The award seeks to focus international attention on the human rights defender’s work, thus contributing to the award recipient’s personal security, and a cash prize of €15,000 is awarded to the Award recipient and his/her organization in an effort to support the continuation of their important work.
“These five defenders demonstrate the tenacity and will to persist in the face of severe, often life-threatening risks,” Andrew Anderson, Executive Director of Front Line Defenders, said in a statement to the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Others finalists are Crimean Tatar human rights lawyer Emil Kurbedinov; land and environmental activist Nonhle Mbuthuma from South Africa; imprisoned human rights activist Abdulhakim Al Fadhli from Kuwait; and human rights defender Francisca Ramírez Torres from Nicaragua.
Additional reading: Three land rights activists named as award finalists as fight for land escalates
===== April 01 =====
Vietnamese Activists Call for International Attention to Settle the Formosa Issue
Vietnamese activists have released a petition calling for international attention to address the environmental disaster caused by the illegal discharge of toxic industrial waste by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant into Vietnam’s central waters in April 2016.
The petition, initiated by the Committee for Supporting Formosa victims under the Vinh diocese, is expected one million signatures. It will be sent to the Taiwanese President and international organizations.
The petition calls on Vietnamese citizens to raise the issue to protect the next generations from environmental pollution.
As of April 1, 86,500 Vietnamese worldwide had signed the petition.
===== April 02 =====
Security Forces Place Activists under House Arrest for Fifth Consecutive Weekend
Authorities in many Vietnamese localities have continued to send plainclothes agents to the private residences of local activists to place them under de facto house arrest for the fifth consecutive weekend in a bid to prevent them from gathering to protest the polluting Formosa plant.
Many activists, including prominent dissident Dr. Nguyen Dan Que, said police officers were stationed around their houses from the late evening of Saturday until Sunday afternoon as former political prisoner Catholic priest Nguyen Van Ly continued to call for nation-wide demonstrations to demand Taiwanese company Formosa to withdraw its projects from Vietnam and to pay compensation to the people affected by last year’s environmental disaster and clean the maritime environment in the central coast.
Due to the police move, many activists complained that they could not leave their house to travel during Sunday, even to exercise.
Vietnam’s Communist government has tried to prevent public demonstrations on matters of public concern, including the environmental catastrophe caused by the Ha Tinh province-based Formosa Steel Plant, which in 2016 discharged a huge amount of toxic industrial waste into Vietnam’s central coast waters and caused massive deaths of fisheries.
Formosa Plastic Group agreed to pay a compensation of $500 million to the affected fishermen; however, the sum is very small for settling the consequences of the catastrophe it caused, said environmentalists.
In mid-March, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said Vietnam needed billions of U.S. dollars to clean the central coast.
===== end =====
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April 2, 2017
Vietnam Human Rights Defenders Weekly March 27-April 02, 2017: Two Vietnamese Human Rights Activists Honored Abroad
by Nhan Quyen • DEFENDER’S WEEKLY
Defend the Defenders | April 02, 2017
Two Vietnamese human rights activists, blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (also known by her pen name Me Nam or “Mother Mushroom”) and Pham Thanh Nghien, have been honored abroad this week.
While Ms. Quynh, who was arrested in October 2016 on allegations of conducting “anti-state propaganda,” was awarded the 2017 U.S. International Women of Courage Award, Ms. Nghien has been selected by the Dublin-based advocacy group Front Line Defenders as one of the five final candidates for its Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk this year.
Responding to Quynh’s honor, Vietnam’s government said the U.S.’s move was inappropriate and not beneficial to the development of bilateral ties. The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the country had a consistent policy of protecting and promoting the basic human rights of its people, including women’s rights.
On March 27, the People’s Court in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong sentenced Tran Minh Loi, a well-known anti-corruption activist, to four and a half years in jail on charges of giving bribes. The court’s decision may discourage people from fighting against corruption in the future, said his lawyers.
On March 28-30, fishermen in Thach Bang commune, Loc Ha district, Ha Tinh province gathered in front of the local government buildings to demand compensation from Formosa and request the company to leave the country. On Thursday, local authorities deployed large numbers of police officers, militia and thugs to violently disperse the peaceful demonstration. Thugs were reported to attack protestors, robbing their cameras and cell phones while police looked on.
And other news
===== March 27 =====
Vietnam Court Sentences Anti-Corruption Activist to 4 ½ Years in Jail for Bribery
Defend the Defenders: After a four-day hearing, the People’s Court in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong on March 27 afternoon sentenced Tran Minh Loi, a well-known anti-corruption activist, to four and a half years in jail on charges of giving bribes, local media reported.
The jury concluded that the bribes allegedly given by Loi and other defendants, namely Nguyen Xuan An and Huynh Kim Cao Tri, in two separate cases were serious offenses leading to negative public opinions in the long term and affecting the strictness of the law.
According to the jury, Loi himself gave bribes at Agribank Dak Lak and incited other defendants to bribe the police in Dak Mil district – behavior that should be severely punished.
The jury also turned down defenses from Loi’s lawyers, six of whom insisted that Loi was innocent.
Lawyer Le Xuan Anh Phu pointed out that Loi helped local people collect evidence in corruption cases, including bribe solicitation, activities whose purpose is positive and whose means are not harmful to society.
The lawyers all insisted that sentencing Loi to a jai term would discourage people from fighting against corruption in the future, the Tien Phong newspaper said.
Lighter jail terms were given to six other defendants.
Additional reading: Vietnam Jails Online Graft Whistleblower for Bribery
===== March 29 =====
Jailed Vietnamese Blogger ‘Me Nam’ Awarded with U.S. International Women of Courage 2017
Defend the Defenders: Vietnamese blogger and environmental activist Mẹ Nấm or “Mother Mushroom,” whose real name is Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, has been awarded with the 2017 U.S. Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award.
The award ceremony, led by U.S. First Lady Melania Trump and Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas A. Shannon, took place on March 29 at the Department of State.
The U.S. Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award annually recognizes women around the globe who have demonstrated exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for peace, justice, human rights, gender equality, and women’s empowerment, often at great personal risk.
Upon hearing the news, Ms. Quynh’s mother, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Lan, told the RFA outlet that she didn’t believe the news until she read the Facebook post by U.S. Ambassador.
In his Facebook post, U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius wrote “On March 29, the U.S. Department of State will recognize Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh in absentia with the Secretary of State’s International Woman of Courage Award for her bravery for raising civil society issues, inspiring peaceful change, calling for greater government transparency and access to fundamental human rights, and for being a voice for the freedom of expression.”
Ms. Quynh, a co-founder of the Network of Vietnamese Bloggers, was arrested on October 10, 2016 on allegations of “conducting propaganda against the state” under Article 88 of Vietnam’s Penal Code. She has been held incommunicado since then and faces imprisonment of up to 20 years if she is convicted.
In 2015, Quynh was honored with the Civil Rights Defender of the Year Award by the Stockholm-based organization Civil Rights Defenders.
——————–
Vietnam, UK Cooperate to Combat Human Trafficking, Modern Slavery
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam and the United Kingdom (UK) will increase their cooperation in the fight against human trafficking and modern slavery, state media reported.
The pledge was made during a workshop jointly held in the central city of Danang by the British Embassy in Vietnam and the United Nations Action for Cooperation Against Trafficking in Persons (UN-ACT).
The event, promoting cooperation opportunities in combating human trafficking and slavery today, drew in nearly 100 representatives from the UK’s Home Office, the National Crime Agency (NCA), the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children’s Child Trafficking Advice Centre, and the UN-ACT.
David Pennant, UK Home Office senior responsible officer for Vietnam, said the conference brought together modern slavery and human trafficking experts from the United Kingdom to promote the definition of modern slavery, introduce the United Kingdom’s world-leading Modern Slavery Act 2015 and share the United Kingdom’s expertise and best practices in identifying, investigating and disrupting acts of modern slavery.
“We are already working closely with the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Vietnam. I highly appreciate the efforts of our counterparts, over the years, to battle the crime, prosecute offenders and support human trafficking victims, helping them reintegrate into the community,” he said.
Speaking at the event, Colonel Le Van Chuong, deputy director general of the Police Department under Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security, highlighted the various memoranda of understanding signed by Vietnam and the UK on anti-human trafficking.
Since 2011, Vietnam has detected over 2,000 cases of human trafficking, with nearly 4,000 victims trafficked overseas.
Last week, in her report posted on The Guardian, Amelia Gentlemen reported that many Vietnamese children had been trafficked to the UK where they were forced to plant marijuana in closed buildings, and even in a nuclear bunker. You can read the whole report here: Trafficked and enslaved: the teenagers tending UK cannabis farms .
Despite the fact that Vietnam is consistently one of the biggest source countries for trafficked slave labor into the UK, there has never been a successful prosecution of a people trafficker from Vietnam, said Kevin Hyland, UK’s independent anti-slavery commissioner. He also criticized UK’s police forces for failing to tackle the issue of enslaved Vietnamese teenagers being trafficked to the country to work in illegal cannabis farms.
Human trafficking occurs through various ways, such as illegal labor export, tourism, or on the pretext of visiting relatives abroad; the victims are then sold and sent to a third country.
===== March 30 =====
Vietnam Says U.S. Award to Detained Blogger Inappropriate
Vietnam has slammed the award granted to blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (known as Mẹ Nấm or “Mother Mushroom”) by the U.S. Department of State as an action lacking objectiveness and being inappropriate and not beneficial to the development of bilateral ties.
The statement was made by spokesman Le Hai Binh of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at a regular press conference on March 30 in Hanoi.
The response was made after the U.S. Department of State on March 29 held a ceremony to grant the Vietnamese blogger, who is now “detained as part of an investigation into her violation of the law,” with the International Women of Courage Award 2017.
Mr. Binh reiterated Vietnam’s consistent policy of protecting and promoting the basic human rights of its people, including women’s rights.
He affirmed that Vietnam had relentlessly tried to ensure and improve human rights and that its efforts had been recognized and highly regarded by the international community.
——————–
Ha Tinh Fishermen Protest Suppressed, Elderly Woman Falls Unconscious
Defend the Defenders: On March 30, authorities in Ha Tinh deployed large numbers of police officers, militia and thugs to violently disperse a peaceful demonstration of local fishermen who are seeking compensation for the environmental consequences of a waste discharge by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant in the province.
When more than 300 residents of Thach Bang commune, Loc Ha district gathered in front of the communal government building to demand compensation and request Formosa to leave the country, police and militia blocked the protestors while thugs attacked them, robbing them of their cameras and cell phones, and later beating many of them.
Many residents sustained severe injuries, and one elderly woman fell unconscious. She was brought by villagers to a district hospital for urgent treatment.
Fishermen in Thach Bang conducted peaceful demonstrations on three consecutive days from March 28-30 after only a few residents of the commune were approved for being granted compensation from the total sum of 500 million US dollars pledged by Formosa. They demand transparency of the decision-making process for compensation and request the Taiwanese group to leave Vietnam.
Additional reading: Ha Tinh Villagers Protest in Bid to Get Formosa Payouts in Vietnam
===== March 31 =====
Blogger Pham Thanh Nghien among Five Finalists for 2017 Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk
Defend the Defenders: The Dublin-based organization Front Line Defenders has selected Vietnamese blogger Pham Thanh Nghien as one of its five final contenders for its Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk this year, the human rights advocacy group announced on its website.
Blogger Pham Thanh Nghien worked to raise awareness of the violations committed against, and to defend the rights of, relatives of fishermen killed by Chinese patrols. In 2008, she was arrested and later sentenced to four years in prison on charges of “anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of Vietnam’s Penal Code.
Following her release, she was kept under house arrest, during which time she spearheaded numerous human rights campaigns and co-founded the renowned Vietnamese Bloggers’ Network.
She has been constantly harassed since. The local police in Haiphong city raided her home, blocked her from attending medical appointments, and refused to deliver her a marriage certificate.
Nghien has also survived numerous physical assaults aimed at stopping her brave, peaceful work uncovering and raising awareness about human rights violations in Vietnam.
The annual Front Line Defenders’ Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk was established in 2005 to honor the work of human rights defenders who, through non-violent work, courageously make outstanding contributions to the promotion and protection of the human rights of others, often at great personal risk to themselves.
The award seeks to focus international attention on the human rights defender’s work, thus contributing to the award recipient’s personal security, and a cash prize of €15,000 is awarded to the Award recipient and his/her organization in an effort to support the continuation of their important work.
“These five defenders demonstrate the tenacity and will to persist in the face of severe, often life-threatening risks,” Andrew Anderson, Executive Director of Front Line Defenders, said in a statement to the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Others finalists are Crimean Tatar human rights lawyer Emil Kurbedinov; land and environmental activist Nonhle Mbuthuma from South Africa; imprisoned human rights activist Abdulhakim Al Fadhli from Kuwait; and human rights defender Francisca Ramírez Torres from Nicaragua.
Additional reading: Three land rights activists named as award finalists as fight for land escalates
===== April 01 =====
Vietnamese Activists Call for International Attention to Settle the Formosa Issue
Vietnamese activists have released a petition calling for international attention to address the environmental disaster caused by the illegal discharge of toxic industrial waste by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant into Vietnam’s central waters in April 2016.
The petition, initiated by the Committee for Supporting Formosa victims under the Vinh diocese, is expected one million signatures. It will be sent to the Taiwanese President and international organizations.
The petition calls on Vietnamese citizens to raise the issue to protect the next generations from environmental pollution.
As of April 1, 86,500 Vietnamese worldwide had signed the petition.
===== April 02 =====
Security Forces Place Activists under House Arrest for Fifth Consecutive Weekend
Authorities in many Vietnamese localities have continued to send plainclothes agents to the private residences of local activists to place them under de facto house arrest for the fifth consecutive weekend in a bid to prevent them from gathering to protest the polluting Formosa plant.
Many activists, including prominent dissident Dr. Nguyen Dan Que, said police officers were stationed around their houses from the late evening of Saturday until Sunday afternoon as former political prisoner Catholic priest Nguyen Van Ly continued to call for nation-wide demonstrations to demand Taiwanese company Formosa to withdraw its projects from Vietnam and to pay compensation to the people affected by last year’s environmental disaster and clean the maritime environment in the central coast.
Due to the police move, many activists complained that they could not leave their house to travel during Sunday, even to exercise.
Vietnam’s Communist government has tried to prevent public demonstrations on matters of public concern, including the environmental catastrophe caused by the Ha Tinh province-based Formosa Steel Plant, which in 2016 discharged a huge amount of toxic industrial waste into Vietnam’s central coast waters and caused massive deaths of fisheries.
Formosa Plastic Group agreed to pay a compensation of $500 million to the affected fishermen; however, the sum is very small for settling the consequences of the catastrophe it caused, said environmentalists.
In mid-March, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said Vietnam needed billions of U.S. dollars to clean the central coast.
===== end =====