Rights groups call for urgent action on detained Vietnamese dissident blogger
Democracy Digest January 4, 2013 Two leading international rights groups have called for ‘urgent intervention’ in the case of an imprisoned Vietnamese human rights lawyer and blogger. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), was informed of Quan’s arbitrary detention by the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR) about the arbitrary detention of Mr. Le Quoc Quan (above). The Washington-based World Movement for Democracy also issued a special alert on the case: According to the Wall Street Journal, Vietnamese police arrested well-known dissident blogger Le Quoc Quan on December 28 while he was dropping off his daughter at school. Mr. Quan, who was in residence at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) on a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellowship in 2006-07, has written extensively on human rights abuses in Vietnam, and has been detained by the authorities multiple times because of his pro-democracy views. Radio Free Asia reports that Mr. Quan was jailed for three months in 2007 and was freed only after protests from the United States. In August 2012, he was beaten by police in an attack, and had “begun carrying a golf-club for self-defense.” The World Movement for Democracy calls for Le Quoc Quan’s immediate release, and demands the Vietnamese government cease its surveillance and harassment of Mr. Quan and his family. We also strongly urge the Vietnamese government to respects its citizens’ right to engage in the free exchange of ideas and opinions online. The FIDH and OMCT request the following actions: Please write to the authorities in Viet Nam urging them to: i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Messrs. Le Quoc Quan, Dieu Cay, Phan Thanh Hai and Ms. Ta Phong Tan,as well as of all human rights defenders in Viet Nam; ii. Release Messrs. Le Quoc Quan, Dieu Cay, Phan Thanh Hai and Ms. Ta Phong Tan immediately and unconditionally as their detention seems to merely sanction their human rights activities and is contrary to national and international law; iii. Put an end to all acts harassment, including at the judicial level, against Messrs. Le Quoc Quan, Dieu Cay, Phan Thanh Hai and Ms. Ta Phong Tan, as well as against all human rights defenders in Viet Nam; iv. Comply with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular: - its Article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”, - as well as Article 12.2, which provides that “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”; v. More generally, ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international and regional human rights instruments ratified by Viet Nam. Addresses:
HE Mr. PHAM Sanh Chau, Ambassador, Boulevard Général Jacques 1, 1050 Brussels, Belgium. Tel: +32 (0)2 379 27 37; Fax : +32 (0)2 374 93 76; Email: vnemb.brussels@skynet.be / unescochau@yahoo.com Please also write to the embassies of Viet Nam in your respective country. Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply. To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
Vietnam Human Rights Network |