Defend the Defenders | May 07, 2017
===== May 01 =====
Kon Tum Province-based Protestant Pastor Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for Helping Montagnards Flee to Cambodia
Defend the Defenders: On April 28, the People’s Court in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai sentenced Protestant pastor A Dao (A Ma Dung) to five years in prison, accusing him of organizing human trafficking to Cambodia.
Pastor A Dao was arrested on August 18, 2016 when he helped five Montagnards flee to Cambodia. The indictment said he supported ten ethnic people to illegally leave the country to Cambodia, and later to Thailand.
Many Montagnards fled to Cambodia in recent years to avoid religious and political persecution from Vietnam’s government. They said local authorities have tortured and intimidated ethnic Montagnards in a bid to prevent them from exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief.
Meanwhile, Montagnard rights groups reported that a group of 25 Montagnard refugees who were returned from Cambodia to Vietnam last week were being subjected to surveillance and intimidation, while others have been forced to read “confessions” due to be broadcast on television.
There are currently about 70 Montagnards in Phnom Penh waiting to be approved as refugees by the UN’s Refugee Agency, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In March, about 50 fled their UN-funded temporary accommodations in Phnom Penh to Thailand, where the chances of being deported back to Vietnam are far slimmer.
For further reading:
Returned Montagnards Facing Intimidation, Spying in Vietnam
Mục sư Tin Lành ở Kon Tum bị kết án 5 năm tù vì giúp người Thượng trốn sang Cambodia
Một mục sư bị tuyên án 5 năm về tội tổ chức vượt biên
===== May 02 =====
Government Loyalists in HCM City Brutally Assault Activist Le My Hanh in Second Attack Against Her within One Month
Defend the Defenders: On May 2, in Ho Chi Minh City, a group of ten government loyalists brutally attacked Le My Hanh, a female environmental activist from Hanoi for her activities, which aim to promote multi-party democracy, human rights and environmental protection.
Ms. Hanh said that the attackers, including women, broke in as she stayed at her friend’s private residence in Vietnam’s biggest economic hub. They sprayed tear gas at the two women and beat them.
After causing severe injuries to Ms. Hanh and her friend, the group left. Later, they posted a video clip of the attack on their Facebook accounts.
Hanh reported that she received online warnings from government loyalists who threatened to assault her when she was due to arrive in the city.
This is the second attack of government loyalists against Ms. Hanh within a month. On April 5, she and blogger Trinh Dinh Hoa were brutally beaten by Hanoi-based government loyalists in Ho Tay (West Lake) as they were broadcasting a live stream on Facebook about the environmental disaster caused by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant in the central coastal region in April 2016.
According to the video posted on their Facebook accounts, as Ms. Hanh and Mr. Hoa were conducting the live stream in Ho Tay to report about the current situation in the central region, a group of six thugs appeared behind them, attacking Ms. Hanh and robbing her of the cell phone with which she was filming herself. Throwing her cell phone into the lake, the thugs turned to beat Hanh and Mr. Hoa, who stood near her.
Due to the assault, Hanh and Hoa sustained a number of injuries. She recognized one of the attackers as a member of a pro-government group in Hanoi that has received support from the local authorities to disturb patriotic and pro-democracy activities organized by local activists. In 2015, the same group persecuted the family of activist Nguyen Lan Thang.
Ms. Hanh is a citizen journalist who has actively reported peaceful demonstrations by central coast residents who seek compensation for the environmental consequences of a toxic waste discharge by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant in the central coastal waters and request the Taiwanese group to leave Vietnam.
Hanh is among the many activists who have been assaulted by plainclothes agents and pro-government individuals in the past few years.
Among the victims are human rights lawyers Nguyen Van Dai and Nguyen Bac Truyen, prominent human rights activists Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (Me Nam), Nguyen Trung Ton, Pham Thanh Nghien, and Vu Quoc Ngu, and anti-China activists La Viet Dung and Truong Minh Tam.
In order to silence local critics, Vietnam’s communist government has taken a number of measures, including intimidation, harassment, physical assaults, and arbitrary arrests and detention against them. It has also supported government loyalists who are responsible for a number of attacks against local activists.
For the previous attack against Ms. Hanh: /2017/04/05/two-hanoi-based-activists-beaten-while-holding-facebook-live-stream-about-formosa/
——————–
Hoa Hao Buddhist Follower Dies from Throat Cuts in Police Custody in Political Case
Defend the Defenders: On May 2, Nguyen Huu Tan, a Hoa Hao Buddhist follower from the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long, was found dead in a local police station with his throat cut and many injuries to his head.
The local police said Tan committed suicide by using an investigating officer’s letter opener to cut his own throat; however, his family suspected that he was killed by police during his detention.
Earlier the same day, Vinh Long province’s authorities deployed around 200 police officers to detain Tan, 38, and search his private residence in Thanh Phuoc commune, Binh Minh town. The police did not show any warrant and took Tan away, the family claimed.
The local authorities said they suspected Tan of conducting activities aiming to overthrow the Communist regime and of carrying out “anti-state propaganda” by producing the flag of the former Vietnam Republic.
Tan’s death is the latest in a series that have occurred under suspicious circumstances while in the custody of the authorities.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said that police throughout Vietnam abuse people in their custody, in some cases leading to death, and has urged the country’s government to take action to end the problem.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security admitted that 226 deaths occurred in police custody between October 2011 and September 2014. Police said illness and suicides were the main reasons for these deaths, while families and human rights defenders blamed police torture and ill-treatment.
Dozens of people have been tortured and killed in police stations nationwide since the beginning of 2015. Many people have been brutally beaten by police for minor infractions.
State media has reported a number of victims of miscarriage of justice whose sentences were based on coercion, as result of police torture. The victims included Mr. Huynh Van Nen from the central province of Binh Thuan, Luong Ngoc Phi from the northern province of Thai Binh, and Nguyen Thanh Chan from the northern province of Bac Giang.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s government officially recognizes the Hoa Hao religion, which has some two million followers across the country, but imposes harsh controls on dissenting Hoa Hao groups that do not follow the state-sanctioned branch.
Rights groups say that authorities routinely harass followers of unapproved groups, prohibiting public readings of the Hoa Hao founder’s writings and discouraging worshipers from visiting Hoa Hao pagodas.
For more information:
Family of Vietnam Hoa Hao Buddhist Questions Death in Custody Ruled ‘Suicide’
Một tín đồ Phật Giáo Hoà Hảo bị cắt cổ chết trong đồn công an
Gia đình ông Nguyễn Hữu Tấn yêu cầu chính quyền CSVN minh oan
Vụ người chết trong đồn công an: Chính quyền nói gia đình đồng ý ông Tấn tự sát, thân nhân tố cáo công an giết người
===== May 03 =====
On World Press Freedom Day, International Organizations Urge Vietnam to Release Blogger Nguyen Van Hoa
Defend the Defenders: On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day (May 3), a group of human rights and Internet security organizations called on Vietnam to free detained citizen journalist Nguyen Van Hoa, who was arrested in January and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code.
In their joint statement, the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontières, the Washington-based Electronic Frontier Foundation and other organizations request the immediate and unconditional release of blogger Hoa, who is well-known for reporting peaceful protests against the polluting Taiwanese steel plant in central Vietnam.
“With mounting social and environmental challenges, the government of Vietnam should welcome transparency and peaceful dialogue,” they said in the statement.
“Repressing citizen journalists is not only a violation of human rights but also a major impediment to Vietnam’s aspirations to become a tech and innovation hub,” they noted.
Hoa, 22, a digital security trainer, was the first person to broadcast live footage of protests outside the Formosa’s steel plant located at the deep-water port in Ha Tinh province. Last October, his footage of more than 10,000 peaceful protesters went viral.
Police arrested Hoa on January 11. Initially, they accused him of “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State” under Article 258 and later changed the charges to “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88.
Vietnam is the world’s second largest prison for journalists, after China, said the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontières, or RSF) in its 2017 World Press Freedom Index.
According to the RSF’s Index released last week, Vietnam remains 175th out of 180 countries, a position that is unchanged from last year.
Meanwhile, the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Vietnam is imprisoning at least eight bloggers, including prominent blogger and entrepreneur Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, prominent human rights activist Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (Me Nam), and well-known blogger Nguyen Huu Vinh (also known as Anh Ba Sam). Vietnam is the world’s sixth biggest prison for journalists, CPJ said.
For further reading:
Vietnam Urged to Free Detained Citizen Journalist on World Press Freedom Day
Hàng chục tổ chức quốc tế đòi thả blogger Nguyễn Văn Hóa nhân ngày Tự Do Báo Chí Thế Giới
——————–
Attack of Female Activist in HCM City Raises Opposition from Civil Society Groups
The 88 Project: On May 2, Lê Mỹ Hạnh, a female environmental activist from Hanoi, and her friends were beaten by a group of government loyalists in Ho Chi Minh city when she was visiting the city and staying at her friends’ private residence. In a video shared on social media after the incident, Lê Mỹ Hạnh recounted that a group of five people, including one woman, knocked on the door during the afternoon of May 2. As one of her friends opened the door, the woman quickly sprayed pepper spray in her face and the group entered to attack the three women in the face with more pepper spray, shoes, and a helmet. Hạnh herself was knocked unconscious.
Screen capture of a government loyalist’s Facebook page, the loyalist posted the assault video with an explicit message to threaten activists.
Disturbingly, one of the attackers, named Phan Hùng, filmed and posted the video of the assault on his Facebook page with a threatening rant: “This is to welcome the yellow with three red stripes flag [former Republic of Vietnam’s flag] member Lê Mỹ Hạnh in Sài Gòn! Any other three stripes guys [supporters of the old regime] wanting to distort, invile leaders, incite riots and subversion, feel free to speak out.” (See the screen capture above). Clearly, the motive behind the attack was political. Hạnh and her friends were targeted because of their pro-human rights, pro-democracy political opinions. Just one month ago, Lê Mỹ Hạnh and Trịnh Đình Hòa had also been attacked in Hanoi as they were conducting a live stream on Facebook to talk about the environmental disaster cause by Formosa in the Central region of Vietnam.
Lê Mỹ Hạnh and her friends have reported the attack to police of the 2nd District of HCM City. But according to lawyer Lê Công Định, the local police tried to persuade her friend to drop the complaint against the attackers because “the injuries were not serious.” This raises the question of the connection between the attackers and the police themselves: why would the local police not want to investigate this serious case of infringement upon a citizen’s private residence and intentional infliction of injury on other persons (Arts. 124 and 104, respectively, of the 1999 Criminal Code)?
On May 3, 21 independent civil society organizations and 20 individuals issued a statement to raise their voices in opposition to the repression of peaceful dissidents and the violence used towards activists. They declared that “The people have the constitutional rights that are protected by the law to speak out their concerns about the country’s situations and their objections [to government’s policies]. The State has the duty to ensure the safety for the citizens in expressing their opinion.” They also appealed to the government “to end propaganda activities that incite violence, as well as to promptly handle the organizations and individuals who openly incite violence, repress, and slander Vietnamese citizens, such as the owners of the Facebook pages Tô Lâm, Trần Đại Quang, and Phan Sơn Hùng.”
Violence against human rights and pro-democracy activists has been rising in the last few years. According to the Former Vietnamese Prisoners of Conscience (FVPOC) association’s 2015-2016 human rights report, although the number of arrests has decreased, there have been significantly more violent assaults against dissidents and human rights defenders. It is widely believed that the attackers are either plainclothes police or thugs who work for and/or are tacitly condoned by the government, as it is unclear how or if the authorities have investigated into the attacks against dissidents at all.
Attack of Female Activist in HCM City Raises Opposition from Civil Society Groups
===== May 5 =====
Ha Tinh Seeks to Arrest Activist Bach Hong Quyen amid Rising Public Anger about the Formosa Environmental Disaster
Defend the Defenders: Authorities in Vietnam’s central province of Ha Tinh have issued a warrant for the arrest of Bach Hong Quyen, one of the key activist bloggers who have provided news related to the environmental disaster caused by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant in the central coastal region, and to peaceful demonstrations of local residents.
The warrant was signed into effect on April 19. However, Quyen, a pro-democracy and human rights activists and environmentalist, remains free, said his fellows.
In an interview to the Radio Free Asia, Quyen said he is prepared to serve time in prison.
“I accepted it when I chose this path fighting for human rights, because I am a member of the Vietnam Path movement—the mission of which is to act as an advocate and educate people about their rights,” he said, adding: “The possibility of being arrested does not scare me or hold me back, because we must fight when there is injustice.”
Many Vietnamese activists have been harassed by the authorities for covering the April 2016 Formosa toxic waste spill, which caused massive deaths of fish and left fishermen jobless in four coastal provinces, or for their involvement in protests against the company.
In January, Ha Tinh police arrested blogger Nguyen Van Hoa for covering news related to Formosa’s discharge of toxic industrial waste into Vietnamese waters. He was initially charged with “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and/or citizens” under Article 258 but later with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code instead.
Formosa has agreed to pay $500 million to clean up and compensate coastal residents affected by the spill, but slow and uneven payout of the funds by the Vietnamese government has prompted protests that continue to be held, more than a year later.
For more details: Vietnam Issues Arrest Warrant for Activist Blogger
———————
Prisoner of Conscience Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy Completes 3-year Imprisonment
Defend the Defenders: On May 5, Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy was freed after spending three years in prison in the same case as the one in which prominent blogger Nguyen Huu Vinh (also known as Anh Ba Sam) is imprisoned.
Ms. Thuy was arrested on May 5, 2014, together with Mr. Vinh, the founder of the well-known Ba Sam independent newswire. The duo was charged with “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and/or citizens” under Article 258 of the Penal Code.
On March 23, 2016, the Hanoi People’s Court sentenced her to three years and Mr. Vinh to five years in prison. On September 23 of the same year, the Appeal Court upheld the sentences.
Speaking at her home town in Hung Yen after returning from a prison in the central province of Thanh Hoa, Ms. Thuy expressed her thankfulness to international and domestic community for supporting her in the past three years.
She will devote time for taking care of her two children and herself in coming months, she said, adding she has no work plans for the future.
Bà Nguyễn Minh Thúy phụ tá blogger Anh Ba Sàm mãn hạn tù
Bà Nguyễn Minh Thúy mãn hạn tù
===== May 6 =====
Imprisoned Vietnamese Human Rights Attorney Refuses Monthly Food Supplement, Likely Conducting a Hunger Strike to Protest Extended Pre-trial Detention
By Defend the Defenders: Vietnamese human rights lawyer and advocate Nguyen Van Dai has refused to receive monthly food supplements from his family, likely conducting a hunger strike in Hanoi’s B14 detention facility in a bid to protest his extended pre-trial detention.
His wife, Mrs. Vu Minh Khanh, told Defend the Defenders that in the morning of Saturday (May 6), she went to the detention facility to provide him with foodstuff and newspapers; however, the prison authorities said her husband would not receive these things.
The prison authorities showed her a working minute between Mr. Dai and the prison’s supervisor, dated May 6, in which he confirmed the refusal. They refused to make a copy of the document for her and to allow her to make a picture of it, Mrs. Khanh said.
The last time Dai received his family’s food supplements was April 15.
Mrs. Khanh is concerned that her husband may be carrying out a hunger strike to protest the extension of his and his assistant Ms. Le Thu Ha’s pre-trial detention. The duo was arrested on December 16, 2015 and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the country’s Penal Code. The two human rights defenders face imprisonment of up to 20 years if convicted, according to the current Vietnamese law.
Vietnam’s authorities are likely to have extended the investigation period in relation to human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai by two months, bringing the total pre-trial detention period against the prominent dissident to 18 months, his lawyer Ha Huy Son said last month.
In its letter sent to Mr. Son dated on April 21, 2017, the Supreme People’s Procuracy said it will allow him to be involved in the case after the investigation is completed, but not now. Two months earlier, in its notice sent to Son, the same agency said the investigation period would be extended until April 17, 2017.
If confirmed, this will be the fourth extension of Mr. Dai’s pre-trial detention. The previous extensions were for four months each. So far, his family has not received any document from Vietnam’s authorities about the latest extension.
According to Vietnam’s Code of Criminal Procedure, Dai’s lawyers will be allowed to meet with him to prepare his defense after the police agency completes its investigation, the Supreme People’s Procuracy said.
Mr. Dai, founder of the Vietnam Human Rights Center and of the Brotherhood for Democracy, has been held incommunicado as he has not been allowed to meet with his lawyer and relatives. His wife was permitted to meet him twice since late 2015.
The arrest of Dai has been met with strong condemnation worldwide. The U.S., the EU and other countries, as well as many international and domestic human rights organizations, have urged Vietnam to release Mr. Dai and Ms. Ha immediately and unconditionally, saying the two activists only exercised their right to freedom of expression, which is enshrined in Vietnam’s 2013 Constitution and in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Vietnam is a state party.
In March, the German Association of Judges (Deutscher Richterbund, or DRB), the largest professional organization of judges and public prosecutors in Germany, honored Mr. Dai with the Human Rights Award for his contribution to fighting for human rights enhancement in the Southeast Asian nation.
Mr. Dai, who was previously imprisoned for four years, co-founded the online group Brotherhood for Democracy in 2013 to coordinate human rights activities across Vietnam and host forums in Hanoi and Saigon to mark International Human Rights Day.
Meanwhile, the living conditions in Vietnam’s prisons and detention facilities are very poor and families of prisoners and detainees have to regularly provide foodstuffs for them. Prisoners and detainees are allowed to receive money from their families and relatives to purchase food and other things at canteens in these facilities, which often sell substandard goods at prices much higher than those in the market.
Mr. Dai is among many prisoners of conscience in Vietnam, where Communists have ruled for decades and the government has used many controversial articles such as Articles 79, 88 and 258 of the Penal Code to silence local political dissidents, social activists and human rights defenders. Others include entrepreneur Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, prominent blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh and land rights activist Tran Thi Nga.
According to Human Rights Watch, Vietnam holds around 130 political prisoners, while Amnesty International said the Southeast Asian nation detains around 90 prisoners of conscience. Hanoi has consistently rejected holding any prisoners of conscience, saying it only detains persons who have violated the law.
For other information about attorney Nguyen Van Dai: /category/nguyen-van-dai/
===== May 7 =====
Authorities in Central Vietnam Launch Public Campaign against Local Catholic Priests
Defend the Defenders: Authorities in Vietnam’s central province of Nghe An have launched a public campaign against Catholic priests Dang Huu Nam and Nguyen Dinh Thuc of the Phu Yen parish. Both have been outspoken about the environmental disaster caused by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant.
In particular, authorities in Quynh Luu district have requested local mass organizations such as the women’s association, the war veterans’ association, the youth communist delegation and school students to organize demonstrations to condemn the two priests, who advocate for lawsuits against the Taiwanese-invested Formosa company for causing the environmental catastrophe.
Participants in these events were asked to hang banners which call for a strict punishment of the two priests, who were accused of dividing national unity and harming public security. Some sources reported that each participant received VND 200,000 ($8.7) from the local authorities’ budget.
The Quynh Luu district government also produced leaflets condemning the two priests. The leaflets were disseminated on the street along with other propaganda slogans of the regime.
Formosa has agreed to pay $500 million to clean up and compensate coastal residents affected by the toxic spill, but slow and uneven payout of the funds by the Vietnamese government has prompted protests that continue to be held, more than a year later.
In recent months, there have been a number of peaceful demonstrations against Formosa in the central provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh with the participation of thousands of local Catholic followers. The local authorities have responded to such demonstrations by sending police and thugs to violently suppress protestors and even assault priests. Many people have sustained severe injuries due to the crackdown.
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May 7, 2017
Vietnam Human Rights Defenders Weekly May 01-07: Government Loyalists in HCM City Brutally Assault Activist Le My Hanh
by Nhan Quyen • DEFENDER’S WEEKLY
Defend the Defenders | May 07, 2017
On May 2, in Ho Chi Minh City, a group of ten government loyalists brutally attacked Le My Hanh, a female environmental activist from Hanoi for her activities which aim to promote multi-party democracy, human rights and environmental protection.
The attackers, who included women, broke in the private residence of Hanh’s friend, using tear gas to assault Hanh and her friend and brutally beating them. The attackers filmed their actions and later posted videos on their Facebook accounts.
This is the second attack against Hanh within one month. On April 5, she and blogger Trinh Dinh Hoa were brutally beaten by Hanoi-based government loyalists in Ho Tay (West Lake) as they were broadcasting a Facebook live stream about the environmental disaster caused by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant in the central coastal region in April 2016.
One day later, independent civil organizations and hundreds of local activists jointly signed a petition to Vietnam’s authorities to demand a thorough investigation into the case to hold perpetrators to account.
Human rights advocate Nguyen Van Dai has refused to receive monthly food supplements from his family, likely conducting a hunger strike in Hanoi’s B14 detention facility in a bid to protest his extended pre-trial detention.
Vietnam’s authorities are likely to have extended the investigation period relating to Dai, a human rights lawyer, by two months, bringing the total pre-trial detention period against the prominent dissident to 18 months.
Authorities in Vietnam’s central province of Nghe An have launched a public campaign against Catholic priests Dang Huu Nam and Nguyen Dinh Thuc of the Phu Yen parish. Both have been outspoken about the environmental disaster caused by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant.
In particular, authorities in Quynh Luu district have requested local mass organizations such as the women’s association, the war veterans’ association, the youth communist delegation and school students to organize meetings and street demonstrations to condemn the two priests, who advocate for lawsuits against the Taiwanese-invested Formosa in relation to the environmental catastrophe it caused.
On May 2, Nguyen Huu Tan, a Hoa Hao Buddhist follower from the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long, was found dead in a local police station with his throat cut and many injuries to his head. The local police said that Tan committed suicide, using an investigating officer’s letter opener to cut his own throat, but his family suspected that he was killed by police during interrogation.
And other important news
===== May 01 =====
Kon Tum Province-based Protestant Pastor Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for Helping Montagnards Flee to Cambodia
Defend the Defenders: On April 28, the People’s Court in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai sentenced Protestant pastor A Dao (A Ma Dung) to five years in prison, accusing him of organizing human trafficking to Cambodia.
Pastor A Dao was arrested on August 18, 2016 when he helped five Montagnards flee to Cambodia. The indictment said he supported ten ethnic people to illegally leave the country to Cambodia, and later to Thailand.
Many Montagnards fled to Cambodia in recent years to avoid religious and political persecution from Vietnam’s government. They said local authorities have tortured and intimidated ethnic Montagnards in a bid to prevent them from exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief.
Meanwhile, Montagnard rights groups reported that a group of 25 Montagnard refugees who were returned from Cambodia to Vietnam last week were being subjected to surveillance and intimidation, while others have been forced to read “confessions” due to be broadcast on television.
There are currently about 70 Montagnards in Phnom Penh waiting to be approved as refugees by the UN’s Refugee Agency, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In March, about 50 fled their UN-funded temporary accommodations in Phnom Penh to Thailand, where the chances of being deported back to Vietnam are far slimmer.
For further reading:
Returned Montagnards Facing Intimidation, Spying in Vietnam
Mục sư Tin Lành ở Kon Tum bị kết án 5 năm tù vì giúp người Thượng trốn sang Cambodia
Một mục sư bị tuyên án 5 năm về tội tổ chức vượt biên
===== May 02 =====
Government Loyalists in HCM City Brutally Assault Activist Le My Hanh in Second Attack Against Her within One Month
Defend the Defenders: On May 2, in Ho Chi Minh City, a group of ten government loyalists brutally attacked Le My Hanh, a female environmental activist from Hanoi for her activities, which aim to promote multi-party democracy, human rights and environmental protection.
Ms. Hanh said that the attackers, including women, broke in as she stayed at her friend’s private residence in Vietnam’s biggest economic hub. They sprayed tear gas at the two women and beat them.
After causing severe injuries to Ms. Hanh and her friend, the group left. Later, they posted a video clip of the attack on their Facebook accounts.
Hanh reported that she received online warnings from government loyalists who threatened to assault her when she was due to arrive in the city.
This is the second attack of government loyalists against Ms. Hanh within a month. On April 5, she and blogger Trinh Dinh Hoa were brutally beaten by Hanoi-based government loyalists in Ho Tay (West Lake) as they were broadcasting a live stream on Facebook about the environmental disaster caused by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant in the central coastal region in April 2016.
According to the video posted on their Facebook accounts, as Ms. Hanh and Mr. Hoa were conducting the live stream in Ho Tay to report about the current situation in the central region, a group of six thugs appeared behind them, attacking Ms. Hanh and robbing her of the cell phone with which she was filming herself. Throwing her cell phone into the lake, the thugs turned to beat Hanh and Mr. Hoa, who stood near her.
Due to the assault, Hanh and Hoa sustained a number of injuries. She recognized one of the attackers as a member of a pro-government group in Hanoi that has received support from the local authorities to disturb patriotic and pro-democracy activities organized by local activists. In 2015, the same group persecuted the family of activist Nguyen Lan Thang.
Ms. Hanh is a citizen journalist who has actively reported peaceful demonstrations by central coast residents who seek compensation for the environmental consequences of a toxic waste discharge by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant in the central coastal waters and request the Taiwanese group to leave Vietnam.
Hanh is among the many activists who have been assaulted by plainclothes agents and pro-government individuals in the past few years.
Among the victims are human rights lawyers Nguyen Van Dai and Nguyen Bac Truyen, prominent human rights activists Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (Me Nam), Nguyen Trung Ton, Pham Thanh Nghien, and Vu Quoc Ngu, and anti-China activists La Viet Dung and Truong Minh Tam.
In order to silence local critics, Vietnam’s communist government has taken a number of measures, including intimidation, harassment, physical assaults, and arbitrary arrests and detention against them. It has also supported government loyalists who are responsible for a number of attacks against local activists.
For the previous attack against Ms. Hanh: /2017/04/05/two-hanoi-based-activists-beaten-while-holding-facebook-live-stream-about-formosa/
——————–
Hoa Hao Buddhist Follower Dies from Throat Cuts in Police Custody in Political Case
Defend the Defenders: On May 2, Nguyen Huu Tan, a Hoa Hao Buddhist follower from the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long, was found dead in a local police station with his throat cut and many injuries to his head.
The local police said Tan committed suicide by using an investigating officer’s letter opener to cut his own throat; however, his family suspected that he was killed by police during his detention.
Earlier the same day, Vinh Long province’s authorities deployed around 200 police officers to detain Tan, 38, and search his private residence in Thanh Phuoc commune, Binh Minh town. The police did not show any warrant and took Tan away, the family claimed.
The local authorities said they suspected Tan of conducting activities aiming to overthrow the Communist regime and of carrying out “anti-state propaganda” by producing the flag of the former Vietnam Republic.
Tan’s death is the latest in a series that have occurred under suspicious circumstances while in the custody of the authorities.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said that police throughout Vietnam abuse people in their custody, in some cases leading to death, and has urged the country’s government to take action to end the problem.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security admitted that 226 deaths occurred in police custody between October 2011 and September 2014. Police said illness and suicides were the main reasons for these deaths, while families and human rights defenders blamed police torture and ill-treatment.
Dozens of people have been tortured and killed in police stations nationwide since the beginning of 2015. Many people have been brutally beaten by police for minor infractions.
State media has reported a number of victims of miscarriage of justice whose sentences were based on coercion, as result of police torture. The victims included Mr. Huynh Van Nen from the central province of Binh Thuan, Luong Ngoc Phi from the northern province of Thai Binh, and Nguyen Thanh Chan from the northern province of Bac Giang.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s government officially recognizes the Hoa Hao religion, which has some two million followers across the country, but imposes harsh controls on dissenting Hoa Hao groups that do not follow the state-sanctioned branch.
Rights groups say that authorities routinely harass followers of unapproved groups, prohibiting public readings of the Hoa Hao founder’s writings and discouraging worshipers from visiting Hoa Hao pagodas.
For more information:
Family of Vietnam Hoa Hao Buddhist Questions Death in Custody Ruled ‘Suicide’
Một tín đồ Phật Giáo Hoà Hảo bị cắt cổ chết trong đồn công an
Gia đình ông Nguyễn Hữu Tấn yêu cầu chính quyền CSVN minh oan
Vụ người chết trong đồn công an: Chính quyền nói gia đình đồng ý ông Tấn tự sát, thân nhân tố cáo công an giết người
===== May 03 =====
On World Press Freedom Day, International Organizations Urge Vietnam to Release Blogger Nguyen Van Hoa
Defend the Defenders: On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day (May 3), a group of human rights and Internet security organizations called on Vietnam to free detained citizen journalist Nguyen Van Hoa, who was arrested in January and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code.
In their joint statement, the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontières, the Washington-based Electronic Frontier Foundation and other organizations request the immediate and unconditional release of blogger Hoa, who is well-known for reporting peaceful protests against the polluting Taiwanese steel plant in central Vietnam.
“With mounting social and environmental challenges, the government of Vietnam should welcome transparency and peaceful dialogue,” they said in the statement.
“Repressing citizen journalists is not only a violation of human rights but also a major impediment to Vietnam’s aspirations to become a tech and innovation hub,” they noted.
Hoa, 22, a digital security trainer, was the first person to broadcast live footage of protests outside the Formosa’s steel plant located at the deep-water port in Ha Tinh province. Last October, his footage of more than 10,000 peaceful protesters went viral.
Police arrested Hoa on January 11. Initially, they accused him of “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State” under Article 258 and later changed the charges to “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88.
Vietnam is the world’s second largest prison for journalists, after China, said the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontières, or RSF) in its 2017 World Press Freedom Index.
According to the RSF’s Index released last week, Vietnam remains 175th out of 180 countries, a position that is unchanged from last year.
Meanwhile, the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Vietnam is imprisoning at least eight bloggers, including prominent blogger and entrepreneur Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, prominent human rights activist Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (Me Nam), and well-known blogger Nguyen Huu Vinh (also known as Anh Ba Sam). Vietnam is the world’s sixth biggest prison for journalists, CPJ said.
For further reading:
Vietnam Urged to Free Detained Citizen Journalist on World Press Freedom Day
Hàng chục tổ chức quốc tế đòi thả blogger Nguyễn Văn Hóa nhân ngày Tự Do Báo Chí Thế Giới
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Attack of Female Activist in HCM City Raises Opposition from Civil Society Groups
The 88 Project: On May 2, Lê Mỹ Hạnh, a female environmental activist from Hanoi, and her friends were beaten by a group of government loyalists in Ho Chi Minh city when she was visiting the city and staying at her friends’ private residence. In a video shared on social media after the incident, Lê Mỹ Hạnh recounted that a group of five people, including one woman, knocked on the door during the afternoon of May 2. As one of her friends opened the door, the woman quickly sprayed pepper spray in her face and the group entered to attack the three women in the face with more pepper spray, shoes, and a helmet. Hạnh herself was knocked unconscious.
Screen capture of a government loyalist’s Facebook page, the loyalist posted the assault video with an explicit message to threaten activists.
Disturbingly, one of the attackers, named Phan Hùng, filmed and posted the video of the assault on his Facebook page with a threatening rant: “This is to welcome the yellow with three red stripes flag [former Republic of Vietnam’s flag] member Lê Mỹ Hạnh in Sài Gòn! Any other three stripes guys [supporters of the old regime] wanting to distort, invile leaders, incite riots and subversion, feel free to speak out.” (See the screen capture above). Clearly, the motive behind the attack was political. Hạnh and her friends were targeted because of their pro-human rights, pro-democracy political opinions. Just one month ago, Lê Mỹ Hạnh and Trịnh Đình Hòa had also been attacked in Hanoi as they were conducting a live stream on Facebook to talk about the environmental disaster cause by Formosa in the Central region of Vietnam.
Lê Mỹ Hạnh and her friends have reported the attack to police of the 2nd District of HCM City. But according to lawyer Lê Công Định, the local police tried to persuade her friend to drop the complaint against the attackers because “the injuries were not serious.” This raises the question of the connection between the attackers and the police themselves: why would the local police not want to investigate this serious case of infringement upon a citizen’s private residence and intentional infliction of injury on other persons (Arts. 124 and 104, respectively, of the 1999 Criminal Code)?
On May 3, 21 independent civil society organizations and 20 individuals issued a statement to raise their voices in opposition to the repression of peaceful dissidents and the violence used towards activists. They declared that “The people have the constitutional rights that are protected by the law to speak out their concerns about the country’s situations and their objections [to government’s policies]. The State has the duty to ensure the safety for the citizens in expressing their opinion.” They also appealed to the government “to end propaganda activities that incite violence, as well as to promptly handle the organizations and individuals who openly incite violence, repress, and slander Vietnamese citizens, such as the owners of the Facebook pages Tô Lâm, Trần Đại Quang, and Phan Sơn Hùng.”
Violence against human rights and pro-democracy activists has been rising in the last few years. According to the Former Vietnamese Prisoners of Conscience (FVPOC) association’s 2015-2016 human rights report, although the number of arrests has decreased, there have been significantly more violent assaults against dissidents and human rights defenders. It is widely believed that the attackers are either plainclothes police or thugs who work for and/or are tacitly condoned by the government, as it is unclear how or if the authorities have investigated into the attacks against dissidents at all.
Attack of Female Activist in HCM City Raises Opposition from Civil Society Groups
===== May 5 =====
Ha Tinh Seeks to Arrest Activist Bach Hong Quyen amid Rising Public Anger about the Formosa Environmental Disaster
Defend the Defenders: Authorities in Vietnam’s central province of Ha Tinh have issued a warrant for the arrest of Bach Hong Quyen, one of the key activist bloggers who have provided news related to the environmental disaster caused by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant in the central coastal region, and to peaceful demonstrations of local residents.
The warrant was signed into effect on April 19. However, Quyen, a pro-democracy and human rights activists and environmentalist, remains free, said his fellows.
In an interview to the Radio Free Asia, Quyen said he is prepared to serve time in prison.
“I accepted it when I chose this path fighting for human rights, because I am a member of the Vietnam Path movement—the mission of which is to act as an advocate and educate people about their rights,” he said, adding: “The possibility of being arrested does not scare me or hold me back, because we must fight when there is injustice.”
Many Vietnamese activists have been harassed by the authorities for covering the April 2016 Formosa toxic waste spill, which caused massive deaths of fish and left fishermen jobless in four coastal provinces, or for their involvement in protests against the company.
In January, Ha Tinh police arrested blogger Nguyen Van Hoa for covering news related to Formosa’s discharge of toxic industrial waste into Vietnamese waters. He was initially charged with “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and/or citizens” under Article 258 but later with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code instead.
Formosa has agreed to pay $500 million to clean up and compensate coastal residents affected by the spill, but slow and uneven payout of the funds by the Vietnamese government has prompted protests that continue to be held, more than a year later.
For more details: Vietnam Issues Arrest Warrant for Activist Blogger
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Prisoner of Conscience Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy Completes 3-year Imprisonment
Defend the Defenders: On May 5, Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy was freed after spending three years in prison in the same case as the one in which prominent blogger Nguyen Huu Vinh (also known as Anh Ba Sam) is imprisoned.
Ms. Thuy was arrested on May 5, 2014, together with Mr. Vinh, the founder of the well-known Ba Sam independent newswire. The duo was charged with “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and/or citizens” under Article 258 of the Penal Code.
On March 23, 2016, the Hanoi People’s Court sentenced her to three years and Mr. Vinh to five years in prison. On September 23 of the same year, the Appeal Court upheld the sentences.
Speaking at her home town in Hung Yen after returning from a prison in the central province of Thanh Hoa, Ms. Thuy expressed her thankfulness to international and domestic community for supporting her in the past three years.
She will devote time for taking care of her two children and herself in coming months, she said, adding she has no work plans for the future.
Bà Nguyễn Minh Thúy phụ tá blogger Anh Ba Sàm mãn hạn tù
Bà Nguyễn Minh Thúy mãn hạn tù
===== May 6 =====
Imprisoned Vietnamese Human Rights Attorney Refuses Monthly Food Supplement, Likely Conducting a Hunger Strike to Protest Extended Pre-trial Detention
By Defend the Defenders: Vietnamese human rights lawyer and advocate Nguyen Van Dai has refused to receive monthly food supplements from his family, likely conducting a hunger strike in Hanoi’s B14 detention facility in a bid to protest his extended pre-trial detention.
His wife, Mrs. Vu Minh Khanh, told Defend the Defenders that in the morning of Saturday (May 6), she went to the detention facility to provide him with foodstuff and newspapers; however, the prison authorities said her husband would not receive these things.
The prison authorities showed her a working minute between Mr. Dai and the prison’s supervisor, dated May 6, in which he confirmed the refusal. They refused to make a copy of the document for her and to allow her to make a picture of it, Mrs. Khanh said.
The last time Dai received his family’s food supplements was April 15.
Mrs. Khanh is concerned that her husband may be carrying out a hunger strike to protest the extension of his and his assistant Ms. Le Thu Ha’s pre-trial detention. The duo was arrested on December 16, 2015 and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the country’s Penal Code. The two human rights defenders face imprisonment of up to 20 years if convicted, according to the current Vietnamese law.
Vietnam’s authorities are likely to have extended the investigation period in relation to human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai by two months, bringing the total pre-trial detention period against the prominent dissident to 18 months, his lawyer Ha Huy Son said last month.
In its letter sent to Mr. Son dated on April 21, 2017, the Supreme People’s Procuracy said it will allow him to be involved in the case after the investigation is completed, but not now. Two months earlier, in its notice sent to Son, the same agency said the investigation period would be extended until April 17, 2017.
If confirmed, this will be the fourth extension of Mr. Dai’s pre-trial detention. The previous extensions were for four months each. So far, his family has not received any document from Vietnam’s authorities about the latest extension.
According to Vietnam’s Code of Criminal Procedure, Dai’s lawyers will be allowed to meet with him to prepare his defense after the police agency completes its investigation, the Supreme People’s Procuracy said.
Mr. Dai, founder of the Vietnam Human Rights Center and of the Brotherhood for Democracy, has been held incommunicado as he has not been allowed to meet with his lawyer and relatives. His wife was permitted to meet him twice since late 2015.
The arrest of Dai has been met with strong condemnation worldwide. The U.S., the EU and other countries, as well as many international and domestic human rights organizations, have urged Vietnam to release Mr. Dai and Ms. Ha immediately and unconditionally, saying the two activists only exercised their right to freedom of expression, which is enshrined in Vietnam’s 2013 Constitution and in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Vietnam is a state party.
In March, the German Association of Judges (Deutscher Richterbund, or DRB), the largest professional organization of judges and public prosecutors in Germany, honored Mr. Dai with the Human Rights Award for his contribution to fighting for human rights enhancement in the Southeast Asian nation.
Mr. Dai, who was previously imprisoned for four years, co-founded the online group Brotherhood for Democracy in 2013 to coordinate human rights activities across Vietnam and host forums in Hanoi and Saigon to mark International Human Rights Day.
Meanwhile, the living conditions in Vietnam’s prisons and detention facilities are very poor and families of prisoners and detainees have to regularly provide foodstuffs for them. Prisoners and detainees are allowed to receive money from their families and relatives to purchase food and other things at canteens in these facilities, which often sell substandard goods at prices much higher than those in the market.
Mr. Dai is among many prisoners of conscience in Vietnam, where Communists have ruled for decades and the government has used many controversial articles such as Articles 79, 88 and 258 of the Penal Code to silence local political dissidents, social activists and human rights defenders. Others include entrepreneur Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, prominent blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh and land rights activist Tran Thi Nga.
According to Human Rights Watch, Vietnam holds around 130 political prisoners, while Amnesty International said the Southeast Asian nation detains around 90 prisoners of conscience. Hanoi has consistently rejected holding any prisoners of conscience, saying it only detains persons who have violated the law.
For other information about attorney Nguyen Van Dai: /category/nguyen-van-dai/
===== May 7 =====
Authorities in Central Vietnam Launch Public Campaign against Local Catholic Priests
Defend the Defenders: Authorities in Vietnam’s central province of Nghe An have launched a public campaign against Catholic priests Dang Huu Nam and Nguyen Dinh Thuc of the Phu Yen parish. Both have been outspoken about the environmental disaster caused by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant.
In particular, authorities in Quynh Luu district have requested local mass organizations such as the women’s association, the war veterans’ association, the youth communist delegation and school students to organize demonstrations to condemn the two priests, who advocate for lawsuits against the Taiwanese-invested Formosa company for causing the environmental catastrophe.
Participants in these events were asked to hang banners which call for a strict punishment of the two priests, who were accused of dividing national unity and harming public security. Some sources reported that each participant received VND 200,000 ($8.7) from the local authorities’ budget.
The Quynh Luu district government also produced leaflets condemning the two priests. The leaflets were disseminated on the street along with other propaganda slogans of the regime.
Formosa has agreed to pay $500 million to clean up and compensate coastal residents affected by the toxic spill, but slow and uneven payout of the funds by the Vietnamese government has prompted protests that continue to be held, more than a year later.
In recent months, there have been a number of peaceful demonstrations against Formosa in the central provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh with the participation of thousands of local Catholic followers. The local authorities have responded to such demonstrations by sending police and thugs to violently suppress protestors and even assault priests. Many people have sustained severe injuries due to the crackdown.
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