Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2003 - Vietnam

Cyber-activists arrested⁶²

On 17th March 2003, Dr. Nguyen Dan Que, a Vietnamese dissident and human rights activist, was arrested in front of his house in Ho Chi Minh City at approximately 8 p.m. The spokesman of the foreign office of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam declared that Dr. Nguyen Dan Que was caught in the act of violating the law because he was going to a cybercafe to "send information abroad" which under Vietnamese national security laws constitutes a crime of espionage. The police also searched his house and confiscated his computer, his mobile phone and numerous documents. As of December 2003, he is still in detention in the office of the central department of internal affairs in Ho Chi Minh City, awaiting for his trial which date remains unknown. Dr. Nguyen Dan Que had published, on 13th March 2003 a written statement, denouncing infringements on the freedom of expression and of the press in Vietnam.

Dr. Nguyen Dan Que had already spent more than 18 years in prison because he had advocated democratic reforms. In 1991, he had been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, but was released in 1998 as part of an amnesty with the condition that he resettle in the United States. Having refused to leave Vietnam, he had been under heavy surveillance and had regularly faced police harassment.

The use of the internet to call for political reform has led to the arrest of various citizens. Mr. Nguyen Vu Binh, a journalist arrested on 25th September 2002, was sentenced on 31st December 2003 to 7 years in prison for "spying" (Article 80 of the Criminal Code) because he had disseminated on Internet a text called "Some Thoughts on the China-Vietnam Border Agreement". Mr. Pham Hong Son, a doctor arrested on 27th March 2002, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for "spying" because he had translated articles on democracy downloaded from the US Embassy website (Article 80 of the Criminal Code) on 18th June 2003. However, under international pressure, his sentence was reduced to 5 years imprisonment. He is being detained in Prison B14 near Hanoi.

On 20th December 2002, Mr. Nguyen Khac Toan was sentenced to 12 years in prison and to 3 years probation by the People's Court of Hanoï also for "spying" (Article 80 of the Criminal Code). He had been arrested in a cyber cafe in Hanoï and the police had searched his house and confiscated various documents.⁶³ The real reason under his arrest seems that he had been helping farmers to file complaints to the National Assembly about State corruption and confiscation of land, and sending copies of these complaints overseas.

Retired Colonel Pham Que Duong, a respected Communist Party veteran and military historian, arrested in December 2002 for filing an application to set up an independent anti-corruption association and calling for democratic reforms, is awaiting his trial, as scholar Tran Khue, also arrested in December 2002.

Religious leaders in detention

In 1981, the Government of Vietnam declared the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), as illegal. For many years, monks from the UBCV have been subjected to systematic repression on the part of the Vietnamese authorities because of their commitment to religious freedom, human rights and democracy.⁶⁴ These acts of repression have continued in 2003, despite a landmark meeting on 2nd April 2003, between Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and UBCV Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang and the temporary release of Thich Quang Do on June 28th 2003, from administrative detention, which had raised hopes that Vietnam might move towards greater religious tolerance.

Detention of Mr Thich Tri Luc⁶⁵

In April 2002, Mr Thich Tri Luc (49), member of UBCV, fled to Cambodia to escape religious repression and harassment by the Vietnamese police. He was granted refugee status by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Cambodia on 28th June 2002. However, on the night of 25th July 2002, Mr. Thich Tri Luc disappeared after an unidentified Vietnamese man came to the house where Mr. Thich Tri Luc was staying and took him away in a car.

On 1st August 2003, his family, who was not aware of his whereabouts since then, received a summons from the Ho Chi Min City Court inviting them to attend his trial, initially planned for the same day. It appeared that Mr. Thich Tri Luc had been forcibly repatriated in Vietnam, in spite of his refugee status and held incommunicado for a year, which is contrary to the Vietnamese law (Article 67 of the Penal Procedure Code).⁶⁶ His family has only been allowed to see him once in the presence of a policeman, since they found out he had been arrested.

On 12th September 2003, the spokesman of the foreign office of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Le Dung, announced that Thich Tri Luc had been "arrested at a border post in the province of Tay Ninh, (...) running away abroad to contact organizations with the aim of undermining the Vietnamese government, on 26th July 2002", and that he was pursued for "fleeing abroad or defecting to stay overseas with view to opposing the people's administration" (Article 91 of the Criminal Code). As of December 2003, Mr Thich Tri Luc is detained in the Centre 237 Nguyen Van Cu, 1st district, in Ho Chi Minh City, awaiting his trial, which has been adjourned sine die. Mr. Thich Tri Luc faces a prison sentence of 3 years to life imprisonment.

Thich Tri Luc had already been arrested in 1992 and held without trial for 10 months after condemning ill-treatment inflicted on Buddhist monks and calling for reform. He took part in the humanitarian mission of the Buddhist Church in 1994 (led by Thich Quang Do) and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and five years administrative detention. After his release, he was under house arrest, he had no identity documents and he was subjected to constant questioning and harassment by security agents, leading him to flee Vietnam in 2002.

Wave of arrests⁶⁷

In early September 2003, a wave of interrogations and harassment of UBCV monks occurred, after police were informed that Venerables Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do had called a special UBCV Assembly on 16th-19th September to reorganize UBCV structures and appoint a number of monks to new functions.

On 8th October 2003, security police intercepted UBCV Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang (86), and his deputy Thich Quang Do (75), as they were leaving the Nguyen Thieu Monastery, in Binh Dinh province, to travel to Ho Chi Minh City. At 5.00 a.m., the two UBCV leaders had just set off in a mini-van along with other UBCV monks, when security police suddenly appeared along with a group of about 40 people. The police blocked the road, intercepted the monks' vehicle and banned them from leaving the Monastery. Thich Huyen Quang, who has been under house arrest since 1982, with the exception of some journeys he recently made under the surveillance of the authorities, and Thich Quang Do, who was released from administrative detention in June 2003, strongly protested and refused to move.

At 10.00 a.m., police drew up a report claiming that the vehicle was "disturbing public order". They ordered the UBCV monks to sign the report, but the monks refused. The police declared that they would tow the van back to the Nguyen Thieu Monastery. Deeply distressed, local Buddhists and monks from the Nguyen Thieu Monastery gathered around the van to protect them. By 2.00 p.m., 200 monks and 1,000 Buddhist followers had formed a human chain around the van and the convoy was able to continue its journey after 10 hours of immobilization by the police.

Following this incident, Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do were placed under house arrest and their monasteries were subjected to constant surveillance. Since then, they both have been held in total isolation, respectively at the Nguyen Thieu Pagoda, in Dinh Binh Province, and the Zen Thanh Minh Monastery in Ho Chi Minh City and have been denied access to medical care. Phone lines to many UBCV Pagodas have been cut and mobile phones confiscated in a widespread campaign to isolate UBCV supporters and prevent them from reorganizing the banned UBCV.

On 9th October 2003, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the two monks were accused of "carrying state secrets" (Articles 263/ 264 of the Penal Code). As of December 2003, they have still not been cleared of these accusations.

Moreover, on 11th October 2003, three other Buddhist monks who were traveling with the two UBCV leaders, Thich Tue Sy, vice-President of Vien Hoa Dao, the UBCV's Institute for the Dissemination of the Faith, Thich Thanh Huyen, head of its Youth Department and the UBCV treasurer Thich Nguyen Ly, were sentenced to two years administrative detention by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Chairman, who invoked "national security" legislation (Article 27 and Decree 31/CP).⁶⁸

Between 14th and 19th October, several other senior UBCV monks, all new appointees to the UBCV Executive Committee, were "orally" sentenced to house arrest by security police. They include Venerable Thich Thien Hanh, Secretary-general of the UBCV's Institute of the Sangha in Hue; Thich Thai Hoa, head of the UBCV's Religious Instruction Department in Hue; Thich Dong Tho, the UBCV Patriarch's personal assistant, in Binh Dinh province; Thich Nguyen Vuong, personal assistant to Venerable Thich Tue Sy, at Gia Lam Pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City. Moreover, Venerable Thich Phuoc An, newly-appointed head of the UBCV's Cultural Department, was summoned for "working sessions" at the People's Committee in Khanh Hoa Province and ordered by Bui Huu Thanh, a Religious Security Police official, to give up this function.

On 17th October 2003, Venerable Thich Vien Dinh, the new Vice-President of the UBCV's Institute for the Dissemination of the Faith, who was arrested during the 9th-10th October incidents and who is as of December 2003 under effective house arrest in Ho Chi Minh City, called on the Vietnamese leadership to grant urgent medical access to Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do, who are in very poor health. This request was not given any response.

On 21st October 2003, the Head of the Binh Dinh Provincial Security Police came to the Monastery and pressured Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang to resign from his position as Fourth Supreme Patriarch of the UBCV. He threatened Thich Huyen Quang with serious reprisals if he did not break off all contact with Venerable Thich Quang Do and the UBCV.

[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

62. See Urgent Appeal VTN 001/0303/OBS 013 and annual report 2002.

63. See Annual Report 2002.

64. See Urgent Appeals VTN 001/0909/OBS 061, VTN 001/0105/OBS 042, Annual Report 2001 and 2002.

65. See Urgent Appeal VTN 002/0903/OBS 048 and annual report 2002.

66. See Annual Report 2001 and 2002.

67. See Urgent Appeal VTN 003/1003/OBS 059 and annual report 2002.

68. Decree 31/CP of 14th April 1997 is among "national security" legislation strongly denounced by the UN Human Rights Committee as being totally incompatible with international human rights law. In fact, this legislation allows individuals who are regarded as a danger to State security to be sentenced, without being charged and without trial, to penalties of up to two years' imprisonment.