Vietnam:
Isolated Political Detainees at Risk of Torture
End
Detention of Peaceful Activists Held Since February
(New York, May 20, 2010) – Three young activists who have campaigned for the
rights of workers and victims of land confiscation in Vietnam should be
immediately released from detention, Human Rights Watch
said today. They have been held almost completely incommunicado since their
arrests in February 2010.
Doan Huy Chuong, 25, was arrested February 11 in Tra
Vinh province and taken to Ho Chi Minh City.
Nguyen Hoang
Quoc Hung, 29, was arrested on February 24 in Dong Nai; and Do Thi Minh Hanh,
25, on February 23 in Lam Dong.
Police reportedly told one of the families that the three were detained for
distributing anti-government leaflets. However, it is unknown what charges, if
any, have been filed against them.
“It’s been three months, and the clock is ticking endlessly,” said Phil
Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Given Vietnam’s harsh
treatment of political detainees, we’re concerned that the authorities might use
cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment – or even torture – to extract
confessions from these three young activists.”
Chuong
is one of the founders of the United Workers-Farmers Organization (Hiep Hoi
Doan Ket Cong Nong) and was previously imprisoned in 2006 for 18 months on
charges of “abusing democratic freedoms.” Chuong’s father, Doan Van Dien, was
arrested on the same charges in 2006, and he remains in B5 prison in Dong Nai
province.
Hung and Hanh were both active supporters of the petitioners’ movement called
Victims of Injustice, which helps impoverished workers and landless farmers to
seek redress from the government.
Since their arrests – which have not been covered in the Vietnamese state
press – state authorities have barred access by the three to lawyers as well as
their families, with the exception of one visit to Do Thi Minh Hanh by her
mother on May 14.
Vietnamese prison authorities routinely mistreat and torture political
detainees during interrogation to pressure them to sign pre-written confessions
and to disclose information about other activists. During pre-trial detention,
which can last up to 20 months, political detainees are often shackled in
solitary confinement in dark cells and allowed out only for interrogation and
abuse.
Holding people in incommunicado detention for three months without
permitting them legal counsel constitutes prolonged arbitrary detention, which
violates international human rights standards.
Human Rights Watch called on the Vietnamese government to provide lawyers to the
three immediately and to clarify the charges against them, or release them.
For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Vietnam, please visit:
https://www.hrw.org/en/asia/vietnam
For
more information, please contact:
In
New York, Phil Robertson (English): +1-917-378-4097 (mobile)
In
Washington, DC, Sophie Richardson (English, Mandarin): +1-202-612-4341; or
+1-917-721-7473 (mobile)