Human Rights
Group Accuses Vietnam of Leading SE Asia in Political Prisoners
VOA News
March
06, 2014
A human
rights group said Vietnam has the highest number of political prisoners in
Southeast Asia.
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) claims at least 212
Vietnamese dissidents are behind bars and many more are under house arrest.
FIDH says those imprisoned include lawyers, bloggers and land rights activists.
Asia Desk Director Andrea Giorgetta told VOA's Vietnamese service that it is
time for the international community to pressure Hanoi to stop its repression of
peaceful dissent.
"It's shameful that a country like Vietnam, a member of the U.N. Human Rights
Council, at the moment holds the highest number of political prisoners in
Southeast Asia," said Giorgetta.
Vietnam said there are no political prisoners or prisoners of conscience in the
country, only those who violate the law.
Meanwhile, prominent environmental activist Dinh Dang Dinh says international
community and rights groups should go to Vietnam to witness the real human
rights picture in the country, where he says detainees are subject to
ill-treatment and lack of essential medical care.
"Jail conditions in Vietnam are extremely harsh. Medical care and nutrition for
prisoners are very limited. Via this interview with VOA, I'd like the outside
world to know that we, especially prisoners, in Vietnam don't have human rights.
The authorities are torturing us by not providing enough food nor medical care.
Although Hanoi just signed on U.N. Convention Against Torture, in reality, human
rights in Vietnam have yet to be protected and it's unsure when they will be
protected. U.N. human rights watchdogs and NGOs need to visit jails in Vietnam
to witness the truth," said Dinh.
Dinh is suffering from the final stages of stomach cancer while serving a
six-year sentence for "anti-state propaganda." He is on a one-year medical
parole following international pressure urging Vietnam to release him on
humanitarian grounds.
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) is a non-governmental
federation for human rights organizations. Founded in 1922, FIDH is the oldest
international human rights organization worldwide and today brings together 178
member organizations in over 100 countries.
Earlier this week, Vietnamese blogger Truong Duy Nhat was given a two-year
prison sentence, sparking outrage among human rights groups and international
condemnation.
Nhat, who has been held since May 2013, was sentenced on a charge of "abusing
democratic freedoms to infringe on the interests of the state and on the
legitimate rights and interests or organizations and citizens" under article 258
of the penal code after posting articles on his personal blog criticizing the
government and raising concern over China's territorial claims in the South
China Sea.
Bob Dietz, Asia Program Coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists, or
CPJ, told VOA the conviction shows the measures Vietnam's leaders are willing to
take to stop criticism of their rule.
"Once again we're pressing the government, trying to reverse its policies that
are really stifling anything that's critical of the Communist Party or the
government itself. What we're seeing here is a constant ongoing trend in which
anyone who really uses the Internet to criticize the government is being slammed
with penalties… The problem is it has been a long-term trend and it seems to be
accelerating actually," said Dietz.
According to CPJ, Vietnam is the fifth-worst jailer of journalists in the world,
with 18 reporters and bloggers behind bars.
Ranked 174 out of 180 countries in the latest Reporters Without Borders press
freedom index, Vietnam is the world's second-biggest prison for bloggers and
netizens after China.