Vietnam Human
Rights Network
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PRESS RELEASE
Vietnam Human Rights Network Announces Vietnam
Human Rights Award Winners for 2004
California,
11.14.2004
The
Vietnam Human Rights Network (VNHRN) has presented the 2004 Vietnam Human
Rights Award to Dr. Nguyen Dan Que and Mr. Pham Que Duong in recognition of their
brave and persistent fight for human rights in Vietnam. At a press conference at
its new office in Little Saigon, California today, the VNHRN Coordinating
Committee announced that the award ceremony will take place at 2 PM on
December 12, 2004 at Santa Ana Community College, Santa Ana, California on
the occasion of International Human Rights Day.
Dr. Nguyen Dan Que, 62, has been a tireless fighter for
human rights and democracy for nearly 20 years. In 1978,
he and 47 members of his National Progressive Front, a non-violent political
organization, were arrested and jailed without charge or a trial. He was
released in 1988. In 1990, he founded the High Tide Humanist Movement and in its
manifesto, the organization called for respect for human rights,
political plurality, and free elections. Dr Que was immediately
arrested and sentenced to 20 years' hard labor, plus 5 years under house arrest
for “plotting to overthrow the regime”. Under international pressure, the
Vietnamese authorities released him in September 1998 on condition that he leave
Vietnam, which he categorically refused to do. On May 11, 1999, he
issued a statement calling for democratization. In March 2003, he was
arrested again, and on July 29, 2004, he was sentenced to 30 months in
prison for “abusing democratic rights to jeopardize the interests of the
state". Dr. Que was transferred to a remote prison in Thanh Hoa
province, North Vietnam last September, making it much harder for his family to
visit him.
Mr. Pham Que Duong, 71, is a former Vietnamese Communist Party
member and North Vietnamese army colonel and former editor of the Military
History Review of the Military History Institute. In January 1999, he handed
back his party membership card in protest against what he called Hanoi
leadership’s improper reaction to general Tran Do’s call for a clean
government. The police followed him, tried to isolate him, and arrested him
several times. He continued to criticize the government's cover-up and
totalitarian policies, to call for true democracy, and to defend imprisoned
or mistreated human rights activists. He was arrested on December 28, 2002 in
Saigon where he had gone to visit democracy and human rights
activists. He was detained until July 2004, given an unfair trial and sentenced
to 19 months in prison for “abusing democratic rights to jeopardize the
interests of the state" and “failing to comply with the government's
house arrest order". Since he had been held without trial for a
period exceeding his sentence, he was released and placed under house
arrest.
The Human Rights Award was founded by VNHRN in 2002
and is awarded annually in recognition of sacrifices made for human rights
in Vietnam. The most Venerable Thich Quang Do and Father Nguyen Van Ly, two
outstanding non-violent activists for religious freedom, were the first prize
recipients. In 2003, the Award went to four young human rights activists: Dr.
Pham Hong Son, Lawyer Le Chi Quang, journalist Nguyen Vu Binh, and former
soldier Nguyen Khac Toan. All of them, except Le Chi Quang, are still detained
and in poor health.
In addition to recognizing those who have
sacrificed everything, including their own lives, for human rights, the
Vietnam Human Rights Award also aims at expressing solidarity with
Vietnamese all around the world who are actively fighting for human dignity and
human rights.
For further information:
Tung Nguyen, DPA
Phone: (714) 636-8895
E-mail: vnhrn@sbcglobal.net
Vietnam
Human Rights Network
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