Defend the Defenders | December 15, 2019
Prisoner of conscience Dao Quang Thuc, who is serving his 13-year imprisonment in Prison camp No. 6 in the central province of Nghe An, passed away on December 10 after falling in a coma for almost one week.
His family told Defend the Defenders that he was taken from the prison camp to Vinh city’s General Hospital on December 3 after suffering from brain stroke. His family was informed by the prison’s authorities one day later and when they arrived in the hospital in the evening of the same day, he was on coma already.
His family requested to take his body to their home town of Da Bac in the northern province of Hoa Binh, however, the prison’s authorities denied, saying he must be buried at the prison’s cemetery. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned Vietnam’s move, saying its refusal is inhumane.
Vietnam’s authorities have a plan to hold the first-instance hearing against eight members of the unregistered group Hiến Pháp (Constitution) on December 25 on the allegation of “disruption of security” under Article 118 of the country’s Criminal Code. They were kidnapped in early September 2018 and held incommunicado for months. They may face lengthy imprisonment for up to 15 years if are convicted.
Defend the Defenders’ Director Vu Quoc Ngu was awarded the 2019 Franco-German Human Rights and the Rule of Law Prize by the two governments of France and Germany. The honorable prize was set up by the two countries in 2016 and awarded every year to 15 human rights defenders around the world, but also to lawyers who represent the human rights defenders and journalists who work to make the truth known. The winners of the 2019 Franco-German Human Rights and the Rule of Law Prize are fighting battles in key fields such as the fight against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, against forced disappearances, against violence on women, against discrimination of LGBT people and the promotion of gender equality said France’s Foreign Ministry on its website.
The Committee to Protect Journalists- CPJ) has listed Vietnam among the biggest enemies of independent journalists in the world, with 12 independent journalists being imprisoned. According to CPJ’s report released on December 11, Vietnam is ranked the second largest prison in Asia, after China, and in a group of the world’s largest prisons which consists of China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Eritrea, Vietnam, and Iran.
US Representative Alan Lowenthal said he is willing to adopt Vietnam’s prisoner of conscience Nguyen Van Hoa who is serving his seven-year imprisonment under inhumane treatment in An Diem Prison camp in the central province of Quang Nam.
Prisoner of conscience Phan Kim Khanh, who is serving his six-year imprisonment in Ba Sao Prison Camp in the northern province of Ha Nam, is disciplined by the prison’s authorities, according to his family.
On December 15, his father Phan Van Dung and brother-in-law conducted a regular visit to the prison camp, however, they were not permitted to meet him as well as not allowed to send him books and additional food.
and other important news
===== December 3 =====
After Decade of Petitions, Vietnam to Re-consider Case of Death Row Inmate Ho Duy Hai
The Vietnamese: After more than 10 years of petitioning the Vietnamese government, Nguyen Thi Loan (pictured above) says a huge weight has been lifted off her shoulders. Her son, Ho Duy Hai, who had been found guilty of murder in 2008 and was sitting on Vietnam’s death row for eleven years, now has another chance at life.
On November 30, 2019, the country’s highest prosecutor’s office (the Supreme People’s Procuracy, or SPP) announced that “Ho Duy Hai’s case suffered from serious procedural shortcomings that affected the quality of evidence gathered” to prosecute him.
As such, the SPP has requested that Vietnam’s Supreme Court toss out all previous rulings, including the original 2008 conviction by a Long An provincial court, as well as a 2009 appellate judgment by the Ho Chi Minh City Supreme Court of Appeals which upheld the death sentence. The SPP’s latest request also supersedes its own October 2011 refusal to halt the sentence after repeated petitions from Loan.
Ho Duy Hai’s 2008 case involves the murder of two sisters, Nguyen Thi Thu Van, 22, and Nguyen Thi Anh Hong, 24, who were killed at Cau Voi Post Office in Long An province, which borders Ho Chi Minh City to the southwest. The women, who both lived and worked at the post office, were found at the foot of a set of stairs, two meters apart, with their necks slit and their heads showing signs of blunt force trauma. The robbery and double murders occurred on the evening of January 14, 2008, about 4.5 kilometers from Hai’s house. It was not until two months later that Hai was implicated. He had known the two employees and could not provide an alibi the night of the murders. Police subsequently arrested him and charged him with murder on March 21, 2008.
Hai was only 23 when he was sentenced to death on December 1, 2008, but both he and his mother have consistently proclaimed his innocence. Though Hai could not remember clearly what he was doing the night of the murders, he claimed police beat and tortured him into falsely confessing.
Other cited shortcomings in the investigation included a lack of fingerprints at the scene of the crime to corroborate Hai’s “confession”, an inability to confirm the murder weapon(s), purchased items used to replace “lost” evidence at the scene of the crime, inconsistent witness testimonies, and a lack of time of death for the two victims to corroborate Hai being at the scene, among others.
For more than a decade, Hai’s mother petitioned all levels of government to intercede in her son’s case, even holding banners in front of the General Secretary, Prime Minister, and the President’s offices. She also enlisted the help of activists, dissidents, and human rights groups on social media to spread awareness. In December 2014, when Hai was only a day away from lethal injection, the Long An provincial court decided to temporarily suspend his sentence due to uproar over the nagging inconsistencies in Hai’s case.
The case became so high-profile that National Assembly (NA) representative Le Thi Nga, who was the deputy head of the NA’s Judicial Committee at the time, became involved. She personally investigated the case’s inconsistencies, confirming that “there were serious violations committed by the police and prosecution in Hai’s case.” Her tenacity, attention to detail, and personal care for Hai’s mother has earned her praise on social media, who have held her up as a model NA representative.
If the Vietnamese Supreme Court accepts this latest SPP request, then there are two possible outcomes for Hai: his case will either be suspended and all charges dropped or he will be re-investigated and re-tried.
If the Supreme Court decides the former, then Hai will walk away from death row a free man. If it decides the latter, then Hai’s case is essentially back to square-one, as if he had just been arrested. Hai would remain in police custody (i.e. virtually imprisoned, as is Vietnamese custom for those who have been arrested but not yet charged with a crime). The murders for which he was convicted would be re-investigated by police, after which the Long An prosecutor’s office would decide whether to charge Hai with a crime. If they do, then the trial, sentencing, and appeals process would repeat itself. If they don’t, then Hai has yet another path to freedom.
Regardless of the outcome, Hai’s mother is all gratitude for what has been achieved so far: “I want to thank every soul, both inside and outside the country, for caring so deeply for Hai. I will be grateful to you all for the rest of my life, for supporting my family and walking together with us on this long path.”
===== December 5 =====
Trial against Eight Members of Hiến Pháp Group Scheduled on December 25, Heavy Sentenced Expected
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam’s communist regime has a plan to try eight members of the unregistered group Hiến Pháp (Constitution) on the allegation “disruption of security” under Article 118 of the country’s Criminal Code” for their intention to participate in a peaceful demonstration in early September last year, Defend the Defenders has learned.
The People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City will hold the first-instance hearing which may take several days from December 25 in its headquarters in the country’s biggest economic hub.
According to their families, the People’s Procuracy of HCM City has released the indictments against them, in which it has proposed the People’s Court to try Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hanh and Mrs. Hoang Thi Thu Vang on accusation of Clause 1 with imprisonment of between five and 15 years in prison while Mr. Do The Hoa, Mr. Ho Dinh Cuong, Mr. Tran Thanh Phuong, Mr. Ngo Van Dung, Mr. Le Quy Loc and Ms. Doan Thi Hong are subjected to the allegation under Clause 2 with imprisonment of between two and seven years if are convicted.
All of them were kidnapped by HCM City’s police on September 2-4, 2018 and held incommunicado for months. Their families had not been informed about their detentions and charges for months after they went to different state agencies and police stations to ask for their status and found out that they were kept by the city’s police.
It was concerned that single-mother Hong was detained when her daughter was only 29-month-old while the Vietnamese law states that a mother should not be separated from their child under three years of age.
Hiến Pháp (Constitution) is a group of activists working to educate the public about the human rights they are entitled to under Vietnam’s 2013 Constitution by disseminating the country’s 2013 Constitution among citizens. Its members were active during the mass demonstration in HCM City on June 10, 2018 in which tens of thousands of Vietnamese rallied on streets to protest the communist regime’s plan to approve two bills on Special Economic Zones and Cybersecurity.
In order to prevent similar protests in early September 2018, Vietnam’s security forces launched a big campaign to persecute local dissent and all members of the Hiến Pháp group became their targets. Two other members of the group named Huynh Truong Ca and Le Minh The were arrested and convicted of “conducting anti-state propaganda” and “abusing democratic freedom,” respectively while two others were forced to relocate in Thailand to avoid being arrested.
Defend the Defenders considers eight jailed members of the group as prisoners of conscience and the accusations against them are groundless.
===== December 8 =====
Local Authorities Destroy Christmas Nativity Scene in Ho Chi Minh City’s Loc Hung
RFA: Authorities in Vietnam Sunday clashed with citizens over a Christmas nativity scene display in a part of Ho Chi Minh City that has been embroiled in a land dispute.
A group of Catholic residents of the Loc Hung Vegetable Garden settlement in Ward 6, the city’s Tan Binh district, were attempting to set up the nativity scene over the weekend, but police, plainclothes security agents and militia were dispatched to the area to prevent the display.
The residents then began to object, saying that authorities were violating their rights to religious freedom.
According to the Facebook account account ‘Vườn rau Lộc Hưng’ (Loc Hung Vegetable Garden’), the incident occurred at 9 a.m. Sunday when the local authorities pulled down a wooden frame that would have been a part of the display.
The Loc Hung residents resumed building their nativity scene in the afternoon, so the authorities came back to stop them.
This caused the residents to resist and authorities arrested Cao Thi Thu, Pham Trung Hieu and Pham Duy Quang for protesting.
The three were released by 10 p.m. that evening.
The nativity display’s statues of Christian religious figures Mary and Joseph were destroyed in the clash.
“Yesterday’s suppression was so brutal,” Pham Duy Quang told RFA’s Vietnamese Service Monday.
“By 3:30 p.m., we had gathered to pray and prepare to set up the nativity scene. After praying, a large force consisting of various Ward 6 agencies showed up to destroy [it],” He said, adding, “They beat us, drove [us] into corners.”
Pham said that the three were accused of inciting a ‘mass gathering to disrupt social order’ and were asked to cooperate in police reports at the Ward 4 police station.
Cao discussed how she was physically assaulted by authorities prior to her arrest.
“We only gathered there to protect the nativity scene,” she said.
“I stood behind to set up, but then a large force came along. I am 58 years old and I have really weak hearing. But I was beaten in the face and trampled,” said Cao.
“I felt a brick from somewhere hit my foot. It was so painful so I picked up the brick and threw it away and began to flee. That’s when they arrested me and accused me of throwing the brick [at them] which is an administrative violation,” she said.
She added that the police asked her to accept either detention or a 750,000 dong ($32.35) fine, but she refused.
“I replied ‘Absolutely not, I won’t pay even or you detain me, so I signed the report without any fear. I threw the brick because I was in pain from being beaten by them,” she said.
Pham Trung Hieu told RFA that while in detention the three had been threatened.
“Prior to letting us go, they told us that from that time on we should not follow Cao Ha Chanh (a longtime resident of the settlement) or anyone else [from there],” said Pham.
“In my opinion, they were only threatening us because we have been lodging complaints over the past 20 years [because of the land dispute],” he added.
RFA attempted to contact the Ward 6 People’s Committee and the Tan Binh district police Monday but received no reply.
Early this year, the area was a flashpoint in a controversial two-day operation in which authorities demolished at least 112 houses in the settlement claimed by the Catholic Church, displacing hundreds of residents, who sources say are political dissidents. Meanwhile, veterans of the former Army of South Vietnam made their homes in the settlement.
While all land in Vietnam is ultimately held by the state, land confiscations have become a point of contention as residents accuse the government of pushing small landowners aside in favor of lucrative real estate projects, and of paying too little in compensation to those whose land is taken.
===== December 10 =====
Prisoner of Conscience Dao Quang Thuc Dies While Serving His 13-year Imprisonment
Defend the Defenders: Prisoner of conscience Dao Quang Thuc died on December 10 while serving his 13-year imprisonment in Prison camp No. 6 in Vietnam’s central province of Nghe An, one of the well-known prison facilities with severe living conditions and inhumane treatment of prisoners of conscience by prison’s authorities.
According to his family, Mr. Thuc, 60, was taken to Vinh General Hospital on December 3 for urgent treatment. His family was informed one day later and when they arrived, he fell into a coma.
The medical staff of the hospital said he suffered from brain stroke. His family said he had no record of this disease before being arrested.
His family wants to take his body but police have not agreed, insisting that he will be buried in the prison camp’s cemetery. According to Vietnam’s law, only those who were sentenced to death have to be buried in prison’s cemeteries.
Mr. Duc is a retired teacher in the northern province of Hoa Binh. He participated in peaceful demonstrations in Hanoi in 2016-2017 on environmental issues and protest China’s expansionism in the East Sea (South China Sea).
Due to his writing and sharing on Facebook about human rights and democracy, he was arrested on October 17, 2017 on the allegation of subversion under Article 79 of the country’s 1999 Penal Code. Next year, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison and five years of probation. In the appeal, his imprisonment was reduced to 13 years.
Before being convicted, he was tortured and inhumanely treated by Hoa Binh province’s authorities. After the appeal, he was transferred to Prison camp No. 6 where he and many other prisoners of conscience Truong Minh Duc, Nguyen Van Tuc and Tran Phi Dung conducted 40-day hunger strike in May-July this year to protest inhumane treatment.
Along with sentencing activists with lengthy imprisonments by unfair trials, Vietnam’s authorities are keeping them under inhuman treatments and severe living conditions with low-quality food, small cells, and no or poor medical services. Numerous prisoners of conscience have carried out lengthy hunger strikes to protest inhumane treatment in prisons across the nation.
Mr. Thuc was the second prisoner of conscience who died in prison due to poor living conditions this year. Several months ago, Mr. Doan Dinh Nam, a member of An Dan Dai Dao religious sect sentenced to 16 years on subversion, died in Xuyen Moc Prison camp and his death was believed to be a result of poor living conditions in the prison.
Vietnam is holding nearly 240 prisoners of conscience in prisons across the nation, according to Defend the Defenders’ latest statistics.
Related article: Vietnamese Dissident Who Died Behind Bars is Buried at Prison
===== December 11 =====
Hanoi-based Activist Wins Rights Award for Her Support of Political Prisoners
RFA: A Vietnamese human rights activist living in Hanoi has won an award given by the U.S.-based opposition party Viet Tan for her work supporting the families of prisoners of conscience jailed by the one-party communist state, Viet Tan said in a statement this week.
Nguyen Thuy Hanh, founder of the 50K Fund raised by contributions of as little as 50,000 dong (U.S. $2) from citizens around the country, will be presented with the 2019 Le Dinh Luong Human Rights Award in a ceremony held in London on Dec. 15.
It is not yet known if she will be allowed by Vietnamese authorities to leave the country to receive her award.
Established on April 30, 2018, the 50K Fund distributes money to prisoners and their families and organizes visits to family members to provide emotional support, Viet Tan said in its statement on Dec. 10.
“To date, the 50K Fund has supported approximately 200 current and former prisoners of conscience and their families,” Viet Tan said.
Labeled a terrorist group by Vietnam in October 2016, Viet Tan describes itself instead as “committed to peaceful, nonviolent struggle” to promote democracy in Vietnam. Members of the group both in Vietnam and entering Vietnam from abroad have themselves been arrested and thrown in jail.
Nguyen’s work in Vietnam has faced a constant challenge from government authorities, Viet Tan said, adding that she is frequently attacked by state media and has had her movements restricted by the police.
“Nevertheless, she has continued to pursue her work,” Viet Tan said. “She said: ‘A donation to the fund is like a ballot, another raised fist to support human rights and democracy, another person who has overcome their fear.’”
‘I can never pay her back’
Speaking to RFA’s Vietnamese Service, Tran Thanh Thuy, the wife of a political prisoner jailed in 2012 in southern Vietnam’s coastal Phu Yen province, said that the money provided by the 50K Fund “helps families of prisoners of conscience both economically and spiritually.”
Though local authorities warned her against accepting money from the Fund, saying they would not allow her to visit her husband in prison if she received it, Tran said she will now use the money she was given to pay the expenses of the trip.
Also speaking to RFA, Nguyen Van Cu—the father of Nguyen Van Thuan, a man jailed for three years for taking part in June 2018 protests in Phan Ri city against proposed cybersecurity and special economic zone laws—said that though he has never met Nguyen, her support has made him “very happy.”
“She sends me money once a month, or every two months,” he said. “I will never be able to pay her back.”
Estimates of the number of prisoners of conscience now held in Vietnam’s jails vary widely, with Human Rights Watch putting the number in October at 138. The rights group Defend the Defenders meanwhile puts the number as at least 240, with 36 convicted this year alone.
===== November 12 =====
DTD’s Director Wins 2019 Franco-German Human Rights and the Rule of Law Prize
The Foreign Ministries of France and Germany have decided to award Defend the Defenders’ Director Vu Quoc Ngu with the 2019 Franco-German Human Rights and the Rule of Law Prize to recognize his human rights works for the past seven years.
He was nominated by Embassies of France and Germany in Vietnam.
The Franco-German Human Rights and the Rule of Law Prize, created in 2016, is awarded every year to human rights defenders around the world, but also to lawyers who represent the human rights defenders and journalists who work to make the truth known. Through this prize, France and Germany wish to show their support for the work of these individuals, said France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its website.
The winners of the 2019 Franco-German Human Rights and the Rule of Law Prize are fighting battles in key fields such as the fight against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, against forced disappearances, against violence on women, against discrimination of LGBT people and the promotion of gender equality, it said.
The 13 other prize winners this year are Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, Li Wendu from China, El Nadim Center from Egypt, Ameha Mekonnen Asfaw from Ethiopia, Robin Chaurasiya from India, Nasrin Sotoudeh from Iran, Amina Hanga from Nigeria, Miluska Del Carmen Luzquinos Tafur from Peru, Mary Aileen Bacalso from the Philippines, Irina Biryukova from Russia, Delphine Kemneloum Djiraibe from Chad, Asena Gunal from Turkey, and Luz Mely Reyes from Venezuela.
France and Germany remain committed to defending human rights and the rule of law throughout the world. They encourage all states to respect the commitments they have made in these fields.
Mr. Vu Quoc Ngu, who graduated agricultural bachelor’s degree in Bulgaria and a master degree in the Netherlands, has worked for DTD since 2013 and became its director in 2015. He is the first Vietnamese awarded with the prize.
——————–
Imprisoning 12 Journalists, Vietnam Ranked Second Largest Prison in Asia: CPJ
The Committee to Protect Journalists- CPJ) has listed Vietnam among the biggest enemies of independent journalists in the world, with 12 independent journalists being imprisoned.
According to CPJ’s report released on December 11, Vietnam is ranked the second largest prison in Asia, after China, and in a group of the world’s largest prisons which consists of China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Eritrea, Vietnam and Iran.
CPJ said the newest victim of Vietnam’s persecution against journalists is Dr. Pham Chi Dung, president of the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam, who was arrested on November 21 and being probed for the allegation of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the country’s Criminal Code for his peaceful writing.
According to Defend the Defenders’ statistics, Vietnam’s communist regime has arrested 21 journalists and Facebookers for their writing so far this year and convicted 13 of them with jailed terms of between one and nine years.
Reporters Without Borders has ranked Vietnam at 176th place among 180 countries in its 2019 Global Press Freedom Index.
===== 13/12 =====
US Representative Alan Lowenthal Willing to Adopt Prisoner of Conscience Nguyen Van Hoa
Alan Lowenthal, a member of the US House of Representatives is willing to adopt Vietnamese prisoner of conscience Nguyen Van Hoa, who is serving his seven-year imprisonment in An Diem Prison camp in the central province of Quang Nam.
Speaking in an interview with RFA, Mr. Lowenthal said Hoa’s family has sent him a request several days ago, adding the adoption would save Hoa from inhumane treatment by the Vietnamese communist regime during his five remaining years in prison.
Lowenthal, a member of the Lantos Human Rights Committee, said he is paying special attention to Vietnam’s human rights situation and will make all efforts to pressure Hanoi to request it to respect international human rights treaties in which Vietnam is a signatory party.
Recently, he and Senator Ed Markey sent a joint letter to Secretary of State Pompeo to alert him about Vietnam’s persecution against independent journalists.
Hoa is among 12 journalists being imprisoned by Vietnam’s regime which is listed as the second-largest prison in Asia for journalists and bloggers by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in its annual report released on December 11. He was arrested and convicted of “conducting anti-state propaganda” because of covering the mass protest against the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant in the central province of Ha Tinh which released a huge amount of toxic waste in the central coast water and caused a devastating environmental disaster in the region in 2016.
===== December 15 =====
Prisoner of Conscience Phan Kim Khanh Disciplined in Ba Sao Prison Camp
Defend the Defenders: Prisoner of conscience Phan Kim Khanh, who is serving his six-year imprisonment in Ba Sao Prison Camp in the northern province of Ha Nam, is disciplined by the prison’s authorities, according to his family.
On December 15, his father Phan Van Dung and brother-in-law conducted a regular visit to the prison camp, however, they were not permitted to meet him as well as not allowed to send him books and additional food.
The prison’s authorities said he is disciplined without explaining why and what kind of disciplinary measure imposed against the young activist.
His younger sister said Khanh made a call to his family several days ago but did not mention about any discipline, probably imposed in recent days, she guested.
This is the second time Khanh has been disciplined this year. In mid-2019, he and three other prisoners of conscience named Le Dinh Luong, Nguyen Viet Dung, and Le Thanh Tung were punished by the prison’s authorities. Particularly, they were not allowed to make a phone call to their families and denied receiving supports from their families as well as not permitted to purchase food and other items from the prison’s canteen which impose high prices much higher than the market prices.
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December 16, 2019
Vietnam Human Rights Defenders’ Weekly Report for December 2-15, 2019: Prisoner of Conscience Dao Quang Thuc Dies While Serving His 13-year Imprisonment
by Nhan Quyen • DEFENDER’S WEEKLY
Defend the Defenders | December 15, 2019
Prisoner of conscience Dao Quang Thuc, who is serving his 13-year imprisonment in Prison camp No. 6 in the central province of Nghe An, passed away on December 10 after falling in a coma for almost one week.
His family told Defend the Defenders that he was taken from the prison camp to Vinh city’s General Hospital on December 3 after suffering from brain stroke. His family was informed by the prison’s authorities one day later and when they arrived in the hospital in the evening of the same day, he was on coma already.
His family requested to take his body to their home town of Da Bac in the northern province of Hoa Binh, however, the prison’s authorities denied, saying he must be buried at the prison’s cemetery. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned Vietnam’s move, saying its refusal is inhumane.
Vietnam’s authorities have a plan to hold the first-instance hearing against eight members of the unregistered group Hiến Pháp (Constitution) on December 25 on the allegation of “disruption of security” under Article 118 of the country’s Criminal Code. They were kidnapped in early September 2018 and held incommunicado for months. They may face lengthy imprisonment for up to 15 years if are convicted.
Defend the Defenders’ Director Vu Quoc Ngu was awarded the 2019 Franco-German Human Rights and the Rule of Law Prize by the two governments of France and Germany. The honorable prize was set up by the two countries in 2016 and awarded every year to 15 human rights defenders around the world, but also to lawyers who represent the human rights defenders and journalists who work to make the truth known. The winners of the 2019 Franco-German Human Rights and the Rule of Law Prize are fighting battles in key fields such as the fight against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, against forced disappearances, against violence on women, against discrimination of LGBT people and the promotion of gender equality said France’s Foreign Ministry on its website.
The Committee to Protect Journalists- CPJ) has listed Vietnam among the biggest enemies of independent journalists in the world, with 12 independent journalists being imprisoned. According to CPJ’s report released on December 11, Vietnam is ranked the second largest prison in Asia, after China, and in a group of the world’s largest prisons which consists of China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Eritrea, Vietnam, and Iran.
US Representative Alan Lowenthal said he is willing to adopt Vietnam’s prisoner of conscience Nguyen Van Hoa who is serving his seven-year imprisonment under inhumane treatment in An Diem Prison camp in the central province of Quang Nam.
Prisoner of conscience Phan Kim Khanh, who is serving his six-year imprisonment in Ba Sao Prison Camp in the northern province of Ha Nam, is disciplined by the prison’s authorities, according to his family.
On December 15, his father Phan Van Dung and brother-in-law conducted a regular visit to the prison camp, however, they were not permitted to meet him as well as not allowed to send him books and additional food.
and other important news
===== December 3 =====
After Decade of Petitions, Vietnam to Re-consider Case of Death Row Inmate Ho Duy Hai
The Vietnamese: After more than 10 years of petitioning the Vietnamese government, Nguyen Thi Loan (pictured above) says a huge weight has been lifted off her shoulders. Her son, Ho Duy Hai, who had been found guilty of murder in 2008 and was sitting on Vietnam’s death row for eleven years, now has another chance at life.
On November 30, 2019, the country’s highest prosecutor’s office (the Supreme People’s Procuracy, or SPP) announced that “Ho Duy Hai’s case suffered from serious procedural shortcomings that affected the quality of evidence gathered” to prosecute him.
As such, the SPP has requested that Vietnam’s Supreme Court toss out all previous rulings, including the original 2008 conviction by a Long An provincial court, as well as a 2009 appellate judgment by the Ho Chi Minh City Supreme Court of Appeals which upheld the death sentence. The SPP’s latest request also supersedes its own October 2011 refusal to halt the sentence after repeated petitions from Loan.
Ho Duy Hai’s 2008 case involves the murder of two sisters, Nguyen Thi Thu Van, 22, and Nguyen Thi Anh Hong, 24, who were killed at Cau Voi Post Office in Long An province, which borders Ho Chi Minh City to the southwest. The women, who both lived and worked at the post office, were found at the foot of a set of stairs, two meters apart, with their necks slit and their heads showing signs of blunt force trauma. The robbery and double murders occurred on the evening of January 14, 2008, about 4.5 kilometers from Hai’s house. It was not until two months later that Hai was implicated. He had known the two employees and could not provide an alibi the night of the murders. Police subsequently arrested him and charged him with murder on March 21, 2008.
Hai was only 23 when he was sentenced to death on December 1, 2008, but both he and his mother have consistently proclaimed his innocence. Though Hai could not remember clearly what he was doing the night of the murders, he claimed police beat and tortured him into falsely confessing.
Other cited shortcomings in the investigation included a lack of fingerprints at the scene of the crime to corroborate Hai’s “confession”, an inability to confirm the murder weapon(s), purchased items used to replace “lost” evidence at the scene of the crime, inconsistent witness testimonies, and a lack of time of death for the two victims to corroborate Hai being at the scene, among others.
For more than a decade, Hai’s mother petitioned all levels of government to intercede in her son’s case, even holding banners in front of the General Secretary, Prime Minister, and the President’s offices. She also enlisted the help of activists, dissidents, and human rights groups on social media to spread awareness. In December 2014, when Hai was only a day away from lethal injection, the Long An provincial court decided to temporarily suspend his sentence due to uproar over the nagging inconsistencies in Hai’s case.
The case became so high-profile that National Assembly (NA) representative Le Thi Nga, who was the deputy head of the NA’s Judicial Committee at the time, became involved. She personally investigated the case’s inconsistencies, confirming that “there were serious violations committed by the police and prosecution in Hai’s case.” Her tenacity, attention to detail, and personal care for Hai’s mother has earned her praise on social media, who have held her up as a model NA representative.
If the Vietnamese Supreme Court accepts this latest SPP request, then there are two possible outcomes for Hai: his case will either be suspended and all charges dropped or he will be re-investigated and re-tried.
If the Supreme Court decides the former, then Hai will walk away from death row a free man. If it decides the latter, then Hai’s case is essentially back to square-one, as if he had just been arrested. Hai would remain in police custody (i.e. virtually imprisoned, as is Vietnamese custom for those who have been arrested but not yet charged with a crime). The murders for which he was convicted would be re-investigated by police, after which the Long An prosecutor’s office would decide whether to charge Hai with a crime. If they do, then the trial, sentencing, and appeals process would repeat itself. If they don’t, then Hai has yet another path to freedom.
Regardless of the outcome, Hai’s mother is all gratitude for what has been achieved so far: “I want to thank every soul, both inside and outside the country, for caring so deeply for Hai. I will be grateful to you all for the rest of my life, for supporting my family and walking together with us on this long path.”
===== December 5 =====
Trial against Eight Members of Hiến Pháp Group Scheduled on December 25, Heavy Sentenced Expected
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam’s communist regime has a plan to try eight members of the unregistered group Hiến Pháp (Constitution) on the allegation “disruption of security” under Article 118 of the country’s Criminal Code” for their intention to participate in a peaceful demonstration in early September last year, Defend the Defenders has learned.
The People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City will hold the first-instance hearing which may take several days from December 25 in its headquarters in the country’s biggest economic hub.
According to their families, the People’s Procuracy of HCM City has released the indictments against them, in which it has proposed the People’s Court to try Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hanh and Mrs. Hoang Thi Thu Vang on accusation of Clause 1 with imprisonment of between five and 15 years in prison while Mr. Do The Hoa, Mr. Ho Dinh Cuong, Mr. Tran Thanh Phuong, Mr. Ngo Van Dung, Mr. Le Quy Loc and Ms. Doan Thi Hong are subjected to the allegation under Clause 2 with imprisonment of between two and seven years if are convicted.
All of them were kidnapped by HCM City’s police on September 2-4, 2018 and held incommunicado for months. Their families had not been informed about their detentions and charges for months after they went to different state agencies and police stations to ask for their status and found out that they were kept by the city’s police.
It was concerned that single-mother Hong was detained when her daughter was only 29-month-old while the Vietnamese law states that a mother should not be separated from their child under three years of age.
Hiến Pháp (Constitution) is a group of activists working to educate the public about the human rights they are entitled to under Vietnam’s 2013 Constitution by disseminating the country’s 2013 Constitution among citizens. Its members were active during the mass demonstration in HCM City on June 10, 2018 in which tens of thousands of Vietnamese rallied on streets to protest the communist regime’s plan to approve two bills on Special Economic Zones and Cybersecurity.
In order to prevent similar protests in early September 2018, Vietnam’s security forces launched a big campaign to persecute local dissent and all members of the Hiến Pháp group became their targets. Two other members of the group named Huynh Truong Ca and Le Minh The were arrested and convicted of “conducting anti-state propaganda” and “abusing democratic freedom,” respectively while two others were forced to relocate in Thailand to avoid being arrested.
Defend the Defenders considers eight jailed members of the group as prisoners of conscience and the accusations against them are groundless.
===== December 8 =====
Local Authorities Destroy Christmas Nativity Scene in Ho Chi Minh City’s Loc Hung
RFA: Authorities in Vietnam Sunday clashed with citizens over a Christmas nativity scene display in a part of Ho Chi Minh City that has been embroiled in a land dispute.
A group of Catholic residents of the Loc Hung Vegetable Garden settlement in Ward 6, the city’s Tan Binh district, were attempting to set up the nativity scene over the weekend, but police, plainclothes security agents and militia were dispatched to the area to prevent the display.
The residents then began to object, saying that authorities were violating their rights to religious freedom.
According to the Facebook account account ‘Vườn rau Lộc Hưng’ (Loc Hung Vegetable Garden’), the incident occurred at 9 a.m. Sunday when the local authorities pulled down a wooden frame that would have been a part of the display.
The Loc Hung residents resumed building their nativity scene in the afternoon, so the authorities came back to stop them.
This caused the residents to resist and authorities arrested Cao Thi Thu, Pham Trung Hieu and Pham Duy Quang for protesting.
The three were released by 10 p.m. that evening.
The nativity display’s statues of Christian religious figures Mary and Joseph were destroyed in the clash.
“Yesterday’s suppression was so brutal,” Pham Duy Quang told RFA’s Vietnamese Service Monday.
“By 3:30 p.m., we had gathered to pray and prepare to set up the nativity scene. After praying, a large force consisting of various Ward 6 agencies showed up to destroy [it],” He said, adding, “They beat us, drove [us] into corners.”
Pham said that the three were accused of inciting a ‘mass gathering to disrupt social order’ and were asked to cooperate in police reports at the Ward 4 police station.
Cao discussed how she was physically assaulted by authorities prior to her arrest.
“We only gathered there to protect the nativity scene,” she said.
“I stood behind to set up, but then a large force came along. I am 58 years old and I have really weak hearing. But I was beaten in the face and trampled,” said Cao.
“I felt a brick from somewhere hit my foot. It was so painful so I picked up the brick and threw it away and began to flee. That’s when they arrested me and accused me of throwing the brick [at them] which is an administrative violation,” she said.
She added that the police asked her to accept either detention or a 750,000 dong ($32.35) fine, but she refused.
“I replied ‘Absolutely not, I won’t pay even or you detain me, so I signed the report without any fear. I threw the brick because I was in pain from being beaten by them,” she said.
Pham Trung Hieu told RFA that while in detention the three had been threatened.
“Prior to letting us go, they told us that from that time on we should not follow Cao Ha Chanh (a longtime resident of the settlement) or anyone else [from there],” said Pham.
“In my opinion, they were only threatening us because we have been lodging complaints over the past 20 years [because of the land dispute],” he added.
RFA attempted to contact the Ward 6 People’s Committee and the Tan Binh district police Monday but received no reply.
Early this year, the area was a flashpoint in a controversial two-day operation in which authorities demolished at least 112 houses in the settlement claimed by the Catholic Church, displacing hundreds of residents, who sources say are political dissidents. Meanwhile, veterans of the former Army of South Vietnam made their homes in the settlement.
While all land in Vietnam is ultimately held by the state, land confiscations have become a point of contention as residents accuse the government of pushing small landowners aside in favor of lucrative real estate projects, and of paying too little in compensation to those whose land is taken.
===== December 10 =====
Prisoner of Conscience Dao Quang Thuc Dies While Serving His 13-year Imprisonment
Defend the Defenders: Prisoner of conscience Dao Quang Thuc died on December 10 while serving his 13-year imprisonment in Prison camp No. 6 in Vietnam’s central province of Nghe An, one of the well-known prison facilities with severe living conditions and inhumane treatment of prisoners of conscience by prison’s authorities.
According to his family, Mr. Thuc, 60, was taken to Vinh General Hospital on December 3 for urgent treatment. His family was informed one day later and when they arrived, he fell into a coma.
The medical staff of the hospital said he suffered from brain stroke. His family said he had no record of this disease before being arrested.
His family wants to take his body but police have not agreed, insisting that he will be buried in the prison camp’s cemetery. According to Vietnam’s law, only those who were sentenced to death have to be buried in prison’s cemeteries.
Mr. Duc is a retired teacher in the northern province of Hoa Binh. He participated in peaceful demonstrations in Hanoi in 2016-2017 on environmental issues and protest China’s expansionism in the East Sea (South China Sea).
Due to his writing and sharing on Facebook about human rights and democracy, he was arrested on October 17, 2017 on the allegation of subversion under Article 79 of the country’s 1999 Penal Code. Next year, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison and five years of probation. In the appeal, his imprisonment was reduced to 13 years.
Before being convicted, he was tortured and inhumanely treated by Hoa Binh province’s authorities. After the appeal, he was transferred to Prison camp No. 6 where he and many other prisoners of conscience Truong Minh Duc, Nguyen Van Tuc and Tran Phi Dung conducted 40-day hunger strike in May-July this year to protest inhumane treatment.
Along with sentencing activists with lengthy imprisonments by unfair trials, Vietnam’s authorities are keeping them under inhuman treatments and severe living conditions with low-quality food, small cells, and no or poor medical services. Numerous prisoners of conscience have carried out lengthy hunger strikes to protest inhumane treatment in prisons across the nation.
Mr. Thuc was the second prisoner of conscience who died in prison due to poor living conditions this year. Several months ago, Mr. Doan Dinh Nam, a member of An Dan Dai Dao religious sect sentenced to 16 years on subversion, died in Xuyen Moc Prison camp and his death was believed to be a result of poor living conditions in the prison.
Vietnam is holding nearly 240 prisoners of conscience in prisons across the nation, according to Defend the Defenders’ latest statistics.
Related article: Vietnamese Dissident Who Died Behind Bars is Buried at Prison
===== December 11 =====
Hanoi-based Activist Wins Rights Award for Her Support of Political Prisoners
RFA: A Vietnamese human rights activist living in Hanoi has won an award given by the U.S.-based opposition party Viet Tan for her work supporting the families of prisoners of conscience jailed by the one-party communist state, Viet Tan said in a statement this week.
Nguyen Thuy Hanh, founder of the 50K Fund raised by contributions of as little as 50,000 dong (U.S. $2) from citizens around the country, will be presented with the 2019 Le Dinh Luong Human Rights Award in a ceremony held in London on Dec. 15.
It is not yet known if she will be allowed by Vietnamese authorities to leave the country to receive her award.
Established on April 30, 2018, the 50K Fund distributes money to prisoners and their families and organizes visits to family members to provide emotional support, Viet Tan said in its statement on Dec. 10.
“To date, the 50K Fund has supported approximately 200 current and former prisoners of conscience and their families,” Viet Tan said.
Labeled a terrorist group by Vietnam in October 2016, Viet Tan describes itself instead as “committed to peaceful, nonviolent struggle” to promote democracy in Vietnam. Members of the group both in Vietnam and entering Vietnam from abroad have themselves been arrested and thrown in jail.
Nguyen’s work in Vietnam has faced a constant challenge from government authorities, Viet Tan said, adding that she is frequently attacked by state media and has had her movements restricted by the police.
“Nevertheless, she has continued to pursue her work,” Viet Tan said. “She said: ‘A donation to the fund is like a ballot, another raised fist to support human rights and democracy, another person who has overcome their fear.’”
‘I can never pay her back’
Speaking to RFA’s Vietnamese Service, Tran Thanh Thuy, the wife of a political prisoner jailed in 2012 in southern Vietnam’s coastal Phu Yen province, said that the money provided by the 50K Fund “helps families of prisoners of conscience both economically and spiritually.”
Though local authorities warned her against accepting money from the Fund, saying they would not allow her to visit her husband in prison if she received it, Tran said she will now use the money she was given to pay the expenses of the trip.
Also speaking to RFA, Nguyen Van Cu—the father of Nguyen Van Thuan, a man jailed for three years for taking part in June 2018 protests in Phan Ri city against proposed cybersecurity and special economic zone laws—said that though he has never met Nguyen, her support has made him “very happy.”
“She sends me money once a month, or every two months,” he said. “I will never be able to pay her back.”
Estimates of the number of prisoners of conscience now held in Vietnam’s jails vary widely, with Human Rights Watch putting the number in October at 138. The rights group Defend the Defenders meanwhile puts the number as at least 240, with 36 convicted this year alone.
===== November 12 =====
DTD’s Director Wins 2019 Franco-German Human Rights and the Rule of Law Prize
The Foreign Ministries of France and Germany have decided to award Defend the Defenders’ Director Vu Quoc Ngu with the 2019 Franco-German Human Rights and the Rule of Law Prize to recognize his human rights works for the past seven years.
He was nominated by Embassies of France and Germany in Vietnam.
The Franco-German Human Rights and the Rule of Law Prize, created in 2016, is awarded every year to human rights defenders around the world, but also to lawyers who represent the human rights defenders and journalists who work to make the truth known. Through this prize, France and Germany wish to show their support for the work of these individuals, said France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its website.
The winners of the 2019 Franco-German Human Rights and the Rule of Law Prize are fighting battles in key fields such as the fight against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, against forced disappearances, against violence on women, against discrimination of LGBT people and the promotion of gender equality, it said.
The 13 other prize winners this year are Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, Li Wendu from China, El Nadim Center from Egypt, Ameha Mekonnen Asfaw from Ethiopia, Robin Chaurasiya from India, Nasrin Sotoudeh from Iran, Amina Hanga from Nigeria, Miluska Del Carmen Luzquinos Tafur from Peru, Mary Aileen Bacalso from the Philippines, Irina Biryukova from Russia, Delphine Kemneloum Djiraibe from Chad, Asena Gunal from Turkey, and Luz Mely Reyes from Venezuela.
France and Germany remain committed to defending human rights and the rule of law throughout the world. They encourage all states to respect the commitments they have made in these fields.
Mr. Vu Quoc Ngu, who graduated agricultural bachelor’s degree in Bulgaria and a master degree in the Netherlands, has worked for DTD since 2013 and became its director in 2015. He is the first Vietnamese awarded with the prize.
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Imprisoning 12 Journalists, Vietnam Ranked Second Largest Prison in Asia: CPJ
The Committee to Protect Journalists- CPJ) has listed Vietnam among the biggest enemies of independent journalists in the world, with 12 independent journalists being imprisoned.
According to CPJ’s report released on December 11, Vietnam is ranked the second largest prison in Asia, after China, and in a group of the world’s largest prisons which consists of China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Eritrea, Vietnam and Iran.
CPJ said the newest victim of Vietnam’s persecution against journalists is Dr. Pham Chi Dung, president of the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam, who was arrested on November 21 and being probed for the allegation of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the country’s Criminal Code for his peaceful writing.
According to Defend the Defenders’ statistics, Vietnam’s communist regime has arrested 21 journalists and Facebookers for their writing so far this year and convicted 13 of them with jailed terms of between one and nine years.
Reporters Without Borders has ranked Vietnam at 176th place among 180 countries in its 2019 Global Press Freedom Index.
===== 13/12 =====
US Representative Alan Lowenthal Willing to Adopt Prisoner of Conscience Nguyen Van Hoa
Alan Lowenthal, a member of the US House of Representatives is willing to adopt Vietnamese prisoner of conscience Nguyen Van Hoa, who is serving his seven-year imprisonment in An Diem Prison camp in the central province of Quang Nam.
Speaking in an interview with RFA, Mr. Lowenthal said Hoa’s family has sent him a request several days ago, adding the adoption would save Hoa from inhumane treatment by the Vietnamese communist regime during his five remaining years in prison.
Lowenthal, a member of the Lantos Human Rights Committee, said he is paying special attention to Vietnam’s human rights situation and will make all efforts to pressure Hanoi to request it to respect international human rights treaties in which Vietnam is a signatory party.
Recently, he and Senator Ed Markey sent a joint letter to Secretary of State Pompeo to alert him about Vietnam’s persecution against independent journalists.
Hoa is among 12 journalists being imprisoned by Vietnam’s regime which is listed as the second-largest prison in Asia for journalists and bloggers by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in its annual report released on December 11. He was arrested and convicted of “conducting anti-state propaganda” because of covering the mass protest against the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant in the central province of Ha Tinh which released a huge amount of toxic waste in the central coast water and caused a devastating environmental disaster in the region in 2016.
===== December 15 =====
Prisoner of Conscience Phan Kim Khanh Disciplined in Ba Sao Prison Camp
Defend the Defenders: Prisoner of conscience Phan Kim Khanh, who is serving his six-year imprisonment in Ba Sao Prison Camp in the northern province of Ha Nam, is disciplined by the prison’s authorities, according to his family.
On December 15, his father Phan Van Dung and brother-in-law conducted a regular visit to the prison camp, however, they were not permitted to meet him as well as not allowed to send him books and additional food.
The prison’s authorities said he is disciplined without explaining why and what kind of disciplinary measure imposed against the young activist.
His younger sister said Khanh made a call to his family several days ago but did not mention about any discipline, probably imposed in recent days, she guested.
This is the second time Khanh has been disciplined this year. In mid-2019, he and three other prisoners of conscience named Le Dinh Luong, Nguyen Viet Dung, and Le Thanh Tung were punished by the prison’s authorities. Particularly, they were not allowed to make a phone call to their families and denied receiving supports from their families as well as not permitted to purchase food and other items from the prison’s canteen which impose high prices much higher than the market prices.
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