Vietnam Proposes Prominent Blogger Ta Phong Tan to Exile in U.S., Proposal Rejected

 

 

by Vu Quoc Ngu

August 16, 2015

Senior officials of Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security have proposed imprisoned prominent political dissident Ta Phong Tan to go to the U.S. for exile, said Ta Minh Tu, the younger sister of the well-known blogger.

Speaking at an interview to BBC on August 13, Ms. Tu said her sister shared the information during a regular visit one day earlier. Accordingly, police officers said they will assist Ms. Tan in completing the administrative procedure if she agrees to seek political asylum in the U.S.

However, Ms. Tan, who is serving her ten-year imprisonment on the allegation of anti-state propaganda, rejected the police’s proposal, saying she is not guilty so she will not beg for mercy, Ms. Tu said.

Tan said she would think about the suggestion if the U.S. directly proposes her or via her relatives, Tu added.

So far, Tan and her family have yet to receive similar proposals from Washington, Tu noted.

Ms. Tu said her older sister has a tumor in her leg while the prison refuses to provide proper medical treatment.

Ms. Tan resumed eating on June 14 after more than twenty days of hunger strike to protest the inhumane treatment in prison, especially against political prisoners who are imprisoned in closed cells without windows.

On the occasion of the World Free Press [May 3], the U.S. Department of State named a number of journalists who are illegally imprisoned, including Ms. Tan from Vietnam. Secretary John Kerry said Ms. Tan was sentenced to ten years in jail just because she publicly condemned the government corruption.

In March 2013, Secretary Kerry and U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama awarded Ms. Tan as a 2013 woman of courage for her dedication to continually demanding a better government for her people, for her willingness to take risks for her beliefs, and for her life experience and skills as a writer that serve as an inspiration to women in Vietnam.

Along with treating inhumanely against political prisoners, Vietnam’s communist government has forced many of them to live in exile abroad. Last year, prominent blogger Nguyen Van Hai (aka Dieu Cay) was brought directly from a prison to the Noi Bai International Airport where he was forced to take an international flight to the U.S.

Earlier, France-trained legal expert Cu Huy Ha Vu was also forced to live in exile in the U.S.

Vietnam is holding at least 135 political prisoners, according to the New York-based Human Rights Watch. Dr. Vu said the Vietnamese government treats prisoners of conscience as commodities to barter with the U.S. and other Western countries for security and trade benefits as well as foreign aid. Vietnam has stocked a reserve of prisoners of conscience for future bargaining, he wrote in an article posted on the Washington Post in 2014.

 

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