Ahead of U.S.-Vietnam meeting, Obama urged to press for blogger's release
IFEX
23 July
2013
Nineteen human rights
organizations have written to U.S. President Barack Obama asking him to raise
the issue of the detention of human rights defender and blogger Mr Le Quoc Quan
when President Truong Tan Sang of Vietnam meets Obama on 25 July 2013.
For further information, click here for the
Letter of Allegation submitted to United Nations Human Rights Special
Rapporteurs about the case of Le Quoc Quan.
The President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20500
Copy to:
The Honourable John Kerry
Secretary
U.S. Department of State
23 July 2013
Dear Mr President,
The signatory organisations respectfully request that you raise with the
Vietnamese Government the arrest and arbitrary detention of Mr Le Quoc Quan,
prominent lawyer, blogger and human rights defender. We understand that
President Truong Tan Sang of Vietnam will meet with you on 25 July 2013 and we
sincerely hope that you will take this opportunity to discuss Mr Quan's case
with him.
Mr Quan is a qualified lawyer and active blogger who is currently detained for
exercising his rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful
assembly, and for his activities as a human rights defender. Prior to his
arrest, Mr Quan exposed human rights abuses commonly ignored by Vietnamese state
media on his popular blog. He defended human rights cases in the Vietnamese
courts until he was disbarred in 2007, when he was arrested and detained for 100
days upon his return from the United States where he had been a Reagan-Fascell
Democracy Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, D.C. In
April 2011, Mr Quan was arrested again and ultimately released without charges.
In August 2012, he was severely injured in a violent attack committed by what he
believes were State agents.
On 27 December 2012, Mr Quan was arrested and charged with alleged 'tax
evasion.' He was detained incommunicado for the first two months and went on
hunger strike for fifteen days. At this moment, Mr Quan is still imprisoned and
is not allowed visits from his family. His trial was scheduled to take place on
9 July 2013, but was postponed at the last moment until further notice.
Mr Quan's arrest and detention are in violation of Vietnam's obligations under
international law, in particular Articles 19, 21 and 22 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which impose duties on the government to
protect Mr Quan's rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful
assembly. His treatment also contravenes state duties set out in the UN
Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, to ensure and protect the rights of human
rights defenders. More detailed information about Mr Quan and Vietnam's unlawful
interference with his human rights is set forth in the attached Letter of
Allegation recently sent to the Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations.
Given the great importance of international attention to the effort to secure Mr
Quan's freedom, and to enable him to return to his indispensable human rights
work, we hope you will seize the opportunity of President Sang's upcoming visit
to request the immediate release of Mr Quan.
Thank you for your kind consideration of our request. Please do not hesitate to
have your staff contact us should you have any questions or need any additional
information about this important case.
Most respectfully,
Southeast Asian Press Alliance
ARTICLE 19
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Freedom House
Human Rights Watch
PEN American Center
Reporters Without Borders
Signatories:
Media Legal Defence Initiative (MLDI) - Nani Jansen, Senior Legal Counsel
Access - Jochai Ben-Avie, Policy Director
Action des chrétiens pour l'abolition de la torture (ACAT) - François Picart,
Chairman
ARTICLE 19 - Agnes Callamard, Executive Director
Réseau Avocats Sans Frontières / ASF Network - Anne Lutun, ASF Network
Coordinator
Electronic Frontier Foundation - Eva Galperin, Global Policy Analyst
English PEN - Robert Sharp, Head of Campaigns and Communications
Freedom House - Robert Herman, Vice President for Regional Programs
Front Line Defenders - Mary Lawlor, Executive Director
Human Rights Watch - John Sifton, Asia Advocacy Director
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) - Karim Lahidji, President
Lawyers for Lawyers (L4L) - Adrie van de Streek, Executive Director
Media Defence - Southeast Asia - HR Dipendra, Director
National Endowment for Democracy - Sally Blair, Senior Director, Fellowship
Programs
PEN American Center - Larry Siems, Director, Freedom to Write and International
Programs
Reporters Without Borders - Christophe Deloire, Director-general
Southeast Asian Press Alliance - Gayathry Venkiteswaran, Executive Director
Vietnam Committee on Human Rights - Vo Van Ai, President
World Movement for Democracy - Art Kaufman, Senior Director