Vietnamese Activist Held Over US Meeting
RFA –
04/16/2013
Vietnamese government
security agents bundled a local activist from his home and held him for five
hours to prevent him from meeting a U.S. official visiting Hanoi for an annual
dialogue on human rights last week, according to the activist.
Pham Hong Son, a Vietnamese physician and businessman, and human rights lawyer
Nguyen Van Dai were invited for talks on Saturday with Deputy Assistant
Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Dan Baer but the two
activists, who had spent time previously in prison, were barred from the meeting
by the Vietnamese authorities.
Son said police had started to arrive outside his home one day before the
planned meeting.
"On Friday, I saw abnormal signals with many plainclothes policemen sent to my
house and following me," he told RFA's Vietnamese Service. "More policemen came
the next day and they even set up a checkpoint right in front of my house. They
had some signs saying ‘Don’t come near,’ and 'No cameras.'"
Son said he still wanted to go for the meeting "because I am a free citizen and
nobody can block me."
He said that concerned U.S. Embassy staff told him they would send a car over to
pick him up "but by the time I got out, there was a [Vietnamese] government car
outside blocking the lane."
"I could not get out. They forced me into their car and drove to the commune’s
office, about 100 meters (300 feet) away. They tried to keep me there. I could
only go home at 6:20 p.m.," he said.
He said that during the five hours in their custody, police used the "same old
trick" of purportedly investigating complaints against him and that he
vehemently protested their actions which he characterized as "very disappointing
and shameful" and "tainted the government’s face."
'Troubled'
The U.S. State Department said this week that Washington was "troubled" by
Hanoi's action to prevent the two activists from meeting Baer.
"[W]e are troubled that Vietnamese authorities reportedly prevented activists
Nguyen Van Dai and Pham Hong Son from meeting with Deputy Assistant Secretary
Baer as planned," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters on
Monday.
"So this really underscores the need for Vietnam to make continued progress to
comply with its international human rights obligations and commitments," he
said.
Ventrell said the the U.S. and Vietnam had "candid and constructive" talks on
issues including freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and prisoners at
the human rights dialogue.
Son has continued to champion democracy in the one-party communist state after
his release from prison in 2006 under a government amnesty.
He was arrested on March 27, 2002 for translating an article into Vietnamese
titled, “What is Democracy?” from the U.S. Embassy's website and sending it to
friends and senior party officials.
After a 15-month pre-trial detention, Son was tried and sentenced to 13 years in
prison and three years of house arrest. Upon appeal, Vietnam’s Supreme Court
reduced his sentence to five years in prison and three years of house arrest.
While imprisoned, he suffered from poor health and an untreated inguinal hernia.
In 2011, he was rearrested along with a prominent lawyer Le Quoc Quan when
attempting to observe the trial of democracy activist Cu Huy Ha Vu. The pair
were held for "causing public disorder" and Son's wife said he was assaulted by
police with batons prior to his arrest and both were released without charge
eight days later.
Reported by An Nguyen for RFA's Vietnamese Service. Written in English
by Parameswaran Ponnudurai.