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VIETNAM HUMAN RIGHTS NETWORK Mạng Lưới Nhân Quyền Việt Nam 12522 Brookhurst Street, Suite 23 Garden grove, CA 92840 Tel.: (714) 636-8895; Fax: (270) 717-9764 Email: vnhrnet@vietnamhumanrights.net * http://www.vnhrnet.org
Vietnam Human Rights Network’s Alert: Young Activists Targeted In Vietnam
PRESS RELEASE March 09.2005
Under immense pressure from International human rights organizations and freedom-loving nations, the Vietnamese communist government has released a few high profile prisoners of conscience on the Lunar New Year Day. The international community has welcomed this development as a progress on human rights of Vietnamese authorities.
However, this release represents only a tiny fraction of the hundreds of prisoners of conscience still remaining in detention today. Most of them are unknown to the world. Moreover, the released prisoners are always under strict surveillance and deprived of all their due rights, especially right to speech and expression.
The Government of Vietnam continues to commit serious human rights abuses towards its citizens, especially democratic minded and freedom-loving youths. These are three typical cases:
- Le Thi Hong Lien, 21 years old, is a voluntary teacher of the Vietnamese Mennonite Christian Church. She was arrested in June 2004 with some other people from the church. On November 12, 2004 a court sentenced her to 12 months in prison. Amnesty International considered her as a prisoner of conscience. She was so brutally tortured by the prison guards that she was severely damaged both physically and mentally.
- Lan Anh, a reporter for Tuoi Tre “Youth” magazine, was recently prosecuted by the Ministry of Public Security for “appropriation of state confidential documents.” In a series of articles from October 2003 to May 2004, she detailed the corrupt practices of the Zuellig Pharma Company in collaboration with corrupted officials in destabilizing the Vietnamese drug market.
- Do Nam Hai, pen name Phuong Nam, a bank professional, was detained and his computer confiscated in December 2004 for posting pro-democratic literature on the Internet. He was frequently harassed by local authorities, and recently fired from his job after he refused to cease his pro-democratic activities.
Facing this aggravating human rights situation, VNHRN raises a serious warning and calls on Vietnam government to immediately release Le Thi Hong Lien, and cease all forms of harassment and intimidation against the journalist Lan Anh and Mr. Phuong Nam. They also ask international community to pressure on Vietnam to improve its human rights practices. Following is the full text of the VNHRN’s alert:
VIETNAM HUMAN RIGHTS NETWORKMạng Lưới Nhân Quyền Việt Nam 12522 Brookhurst Street, Suite 23 Garden grove, CA 92840 Tel.: (714) 636-8895; Fax: (270) 717-9764 Email: vnhrn@sbcglobal.net * http://www.vnhrnet.org
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In recent months, Vietnamese authorities have intensified their efforts to suppress opposition from young activists rallying for reform of an un-democratic and corrupt system. By targeting promising young leaders, it appears Hanoi has adopted a new tactic of curbing pro-democratic activities at its early roots. The following are but a small sample of such abuses.
1. Le Thi Hong Lien, a 21-year-old teacher, was arrested in May 2004 for civil disobedience. She, in an act of conscience, refused to obey the orders of the police who attempted to intercede with her freedom of religion. She was sentenced to 12 months in prison. Considered as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, she was so brutally tortured by the prison guards that she was severely damaged both physically and mentally.
2. Lan Anh, a reporter for Tuoi Tre “Youth” magazine, was home confined and prosecuted by the Ministry of Public Security for ““appropriation of state confidential documents.” In a series of articles from October 2003 to May 2004, she detailed the corrupt practices of the Zuellig Pharma Company in collaboration with corrupted officials in destabilizing the Vietnamese drug market. She was arrested following her call for a general inspection of the Zuellig Pharma Company.
3. Do Nam Hai, pen name Phuong Nam, a bank professional, was detained and his computer confiscated in December 2004 for posting pro-democratic literature on the Internet. He was frequently harassed by local authorities and subsequently was fired on February 23, 2005 after he refused to cease his activities.
Given their wanton disregard for basic human rights stipulated in Vietnam’s Constitution and in the United Nation’s International Law on Human Rights, the Vietnam Human Rights Network calls for the following: 1. The Government of Vietnam to immediately release and cease all activities against Le Thi Hong Lien, Lan Anh and Phuong Nam. 2. All Vietnamese compatriots, especially students and youngsters to publicly demand Vietnam government to respect human rights of its people. 3. The United Nations, all democratic and freedom-loving nations, the media and all international organizations to pressure Vietnam into enforcing the United Nations’ international covenants on human rights.
March 8, 2005 Nguyen Thanh Trang, Chairman
Vietnam Human Rights Network
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