Vietnam: Stop
Using Absurd Laws to Imprison Critics
Top Bloggers Arrested and Charged for ‘Abusing Freedom and Democracy’
Human Rights Watch
New York
- December 11, 2014
Vietnam
should drop all charges and immediately release bloggers Nguyen Quang Lap and
Hong Le Tho, who were arrested for operating independent blogs, Human Rights
Watch said today.
Nguyen Quang Lap was arrested on December 6, 2014, and Hong Le Tho was
arrested on November 29 in Ho Chi Minh City. Both were charged with “abusing
freedom and democracy to infringe upon the interests of the state” under article
258 of the penal code. In 2014, Vietnam has used article 258 to convict at least
10 rights advocates and arrest 4 bloggers.
“There can hardly be a more insidious legal provision than one that
criminalizes ‘abusing freedom and democracy to infringe on the interests of the
state,’” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “These charges
are even more preposterous from a government that is not democratic and doesn’t
respect individual freedom.”
Nguyen Quang Lap (referred to as “Bo Lap” on his well-known Que Choa
blog), 58, is a prominent writer, journalist, and blogger. After graduating from
the Hanoi Polytechnic University, he served in the army for five years during
the early 1980s. Lap began his writing career as a freelance writer and
journalist. He served as the deputy editor-in-chief of the popular Cua Viet
(the Door of Viet) magazine from 1990-1992. After only seventeen issues, Cua
Viet was shut down by the authorities for publishing pro-democracy content.
In the early 1990s, Lap moved to Hanoi where he worked for various literary
media including Young Literature & Arts Newspaper and the Kim Dong
Children’s Publishing House. He penned a number of widely produced and highly
acclaimed plays such as Nhung linh hon song (Living Souls) and Mua ha cay dang
(A Painful Summer). His film scripts such as Thung lung hoang vang (Deserted
Valley) and Doi cat (Sand Life) won national awards. In addition to his writings
for film and stage, he is the author of a published novel and several
collections of stories and short pieces of non-fiction. In 2001, Nguyen Quang
Lap suffered a motorcycle accident that left him with one leg and one arm
paralyzed.
Nguyen Quang Lap started the Que Choa blog in 2007. It quickly
emerged as one of the most popular blogs for Vietnamese readers both
domestically and overseas. In May 2013, the administrative manager of the server
that hosts the Que Choa blog requested that he remove a number of
“sensitive” and “bad” posts on his blog. He declined and his blog was removed
from the server. Lap then moved to a foreign-based host sever. Despite suffering
intermittent attacks and firewalls, by June 2014 Que Choa had received
more than a hundred million views.
In July 2014, Nguyen Quang Lap’s Facebook account was temporarily suspended
and he was forced to open another account. Attempts to silence Nguyen Quang Lap
have only made him more outspoken. In a blog entry in June, he wrote, “I have
never nor will I ever follow or oppose anyone because this is not the job of a
writer. I will always be a small boat person, carrying the boat of TRUTH to the
people and nothing else.”
Hong Le Tho (who blogs as Nguoi Lot Gach – which means “bricklayer”), 65,
was an anti-war student activist in Japan in the late 1960s and early 1970.
After 1975, he reportedly worked for the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan for four
years before moving back to Vietnam. He started his blog, Nguoi Lot Gach,
in 2011. He has mainly used it to repost articles focused on social and
political issues in Vietnam. Tho is known among the Vietnamese intelligentsia as
an independent researcher of issues related to Vietnam’s territorial claim in
the Spratly and Paracel Islands. Both he and Nguyen Quang Lap have strongly
opposed China’s claims in this dispute.
Nguyen Quang Lap and Hong Le Tho are not the only bloggers who have been
arrested and charged with article 258 this year. Other victims of this ongoing
crackdown include Nguyen Huu Vinh (known as Anh Ba Sam) and his colleague Nguyen
Thi Minh Thuy, both arrested in May 2014. In November, the B14 Detention Center
in Hanoi refused to allow defense lawyer Ha Huy Son to meet with his client
Nguyen Huu Vinh, and defense lawyer Nguyen Tien Dung to meet his client Nguyen
Thi Minh Thuy. In December, the Procuracy office informed Ha Huy Son that the
case has been sent back to the police investigation bureau for supplemental
investigation.
Vietnam became a member of the UN Human Rights Council in 2014. However, it
continues to use vaguely defined articles in the penal code, such as article
258, to silence Vietnamese critics, Human Rights Watch said.
“Efforts to silence bloggers make a mockery of Vietnam’s commitments to the
United Nations when it stood for election to the Human Rights Council,” Adams
said. “The Vietnamese government looks like little more than a bully at home and
abroad when it persecutes people who do nothing more than express their
opinions.”
For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Vietnam,
please visit:
https://www.hrw.org/asia/vietnam
For more information, please contact:
In Bangkok, Phil Robertson (English, Thai): +66-85-060-8406 (mobile); or
robertp@hrw.org.
Follow on Twitter @Reaproy
In San Francisco, Brad Adams (English): +1-347-463-3531 (mobile); or
adamsb@hrw.org. Follow on Twitter @BradAdamsHRW
In Washington, DC, John Sifton (English): +1-646-479-2499 (mobile); or
siftonj@hrw.org. Follow on Twitter @johnsifton