Jailed Vietnamese Blogger in Fourth Week of Hunger Strike
RFA - 07-17-2013
One of Vietnam’s most
prominent jailed dissidents, blogger Nguyen Van Hai, has gone on a hunger strike
amid concerns over his prison treatment, his ex-wife said Wednesday,
highlighting a trend of fasting protests by political prisoners in the one-party
Communist state.
Hai, popularly known by his pen name Dieu Cay, has gone on the hunger protest
for 25 days and has been “disciplined” by the prison authorities for
“disturbing” order, Duong Thi Tan told RFA’s Vietnamese Service.
Hai is serving a 12-year jail sentence from September for “conducting propaganda
against the state” after his online articles slammed communist rule and
highlighted alleged abuses by the authorities.
Tan said that she had been informed of Hai’s hunger strike after she had gone to
see him at the No. 6 Prison in Nghe An province in Vietnam’s north central coast
but was refused permission to meet with him.
In recent weeks, a number of Vietnamese political prisoners have held hunger
strikes to protest harsh conditions in jail, including prominent dissident Cu
Huy Ha Vu and Catholic activist Tran Minh Nhat.
Tan said that she learned of Hai’s hunger strike after receiving a phone call
from Nguyen Thi Nga, the wife of Nguyen Xuan Nghia, who is a fellow inmate of
Hai’s. Nga had been to see her husband earlier that day.
“After the meeting, which lasted about 30 minutes and was under police monitor …
[Nghia] told her that Hai has been on a hunger strike for 25 days,” she said.
“After he said that, the police gagged [Nghia’s] mouth and took him away.”
Tan said that Nga was held briefly while prison authorities drew up a document
saying that she had violated the law for speaking with her husband about Hai.
“Everything happened so fast and [Nga] was shocked to hear that Hai was on a
hunger strike for 25 days,” she said.
Nga did not know why Hai had decided to fast, or whether he had been force fed
by authorities or was taking water.
According to Tan, Hai had gone on a hunger strike for 29 days in 2011 as well.
Refused visit
Tan and the couple’s son Nguyen Tri Dung had earlier on Wednesday been refused
permission to see Hai at Prison No. 6 by authorities who told them he was “being
disciplined for disturbing order” in the facility.
“They let me in [to the office], but told me that he was being disciplined and
during this time he would not be allowed to see family members,” she said.
“I asked them about the reason for the discipline and the starting date. They
said he ‘disturbed prison order’ and was being disciplined for a week.”
Tan, who is from Ho Chi Minh City, then told her son to find a place to stay
until Saturday—the next time they could visit Hai.
“But [the authorities] said they were not sure [if we could see him then]. This
time definitely not, but they were not sure about next time either,” she said.
Outspoken blogger
Hai, who suffers from health problems, has been held at 10 different prison
camps since his arrest in October 2008 and his case has been “adopted” by the
U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. His family has complained that he has
not received sufficient medical treatment while incarcerated.
An outspoken blogger who co-founded the “Free Journalists Club Website,” Hai was
first detained after participating in anti-China protests ahead of the Beijing
Olympics and served 30 months in jail on tax evasion charges critics have said
were trumped up.
Upon his scheduled release in 2010, he was immediately rearrested on
“antigovernment propaganda” charges for hundreds of articles he had written
online along with two other members of the website.
The three were convicted under Article 88 of the country’s criminal code, a
controversial provision rights groups say the government has used to silence
online dissent.
Hai's case has been raised by U.S. President Barack Obama, who said in May last
year "we must not forget [journalists] like blogger Dieu Cay, whose 2008 arrest
coincided with a mass crackdown on citizen journalism in Vietnam."
Hunger strikes
Hai’s hunger strike follows fasting protests held by two other jailed activists
last month over what they said was inhumane treatment in prison.
In June, Tran Minh Nhat, who received a four-year prison sentence in January for
his affiliation with banned opposition party Viet Tan, had fasted for several
days after being refused reading material and subjected to harsh conditions in
jail. Nhat is also imprisoned in Nghe An province.
News of his hunger strike came as prominent dissident Cu Huy Ha Vu ended a
25-day hunger strike after authorities agreed to examine his complaint over
prison abuses, calling it a victory for justice and democracy in Vietnam.
Several prominent activists in the U.S. and Vietnam also staged their own hunger
strikes in solidarity with Vu, who had complained of abuses by one of his guards
that he says harmed his health and worsened his heart condition.
Reported by Mac Lam for RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Written in English by
Joshua Lipes.