Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2006 - Vietnam
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Date:
14 March 2007
Acts of harassment against cyber-dissidents
In 2006, defenders who posted articles criticising the government or promoting human rights on the Internet remained subjected to acts of harassment.
Arbitrary detention of Mr. Nguyen Vu Binh122
As of the end of 2006, Mr. Nguyen Vu Binh, a journalist arrested on September 25, 2002 and sentenced to seven years in prison in December 2003 for having posted articles "of a reactionary nature", including an account of human rights violations sent to the United States' Congress, remained in detention.
The sentence was confirmed on appeal on May 5, 2004. Prison authorities pressured him to make a "self-criticism", which he always refused to do. His family was able to visit him on November 2, 2006 and noted that his health had seriously deteriorated. In particular, he suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure, for which he was not receiving proper medical treatment.
Release of Mr. Nguyen Khac Toan and Mr. Pham Hong Son and ongoing acts of harassment against them123
– On January 26, 2006 Mr. Nguyen Khac Toan, a business man and former military officer arrested on January 8, 2002 in a cyber-café in Hanoi, was granted amnesty and released on the occasion of the Lunar New Year. However, he remained under house arrest: he was under close police surveillance and his freedom of movement was severely restricted, as he could not leave his neighbourhood without paying a fine of 500,000 dongs (24 euros).
He was sentenced on December 20, 2002 to twelve years in prison for "espionage" after being accused of helping farmers drafting complaints to authorities to protest against the confiscation of their land by the State, and of sending information to exiled Vietnamese human rights organisations.
Moreover, starting on August 12, 2006, Mr. Nguyen Khac Toan, as well as Mr. Hoang Tien, Mr. Nguyen Van Dai, Mr. Bach Ngoc Duong and Ms. Duong Thi Xuan, who had planned to publish an independent online newspaper, Freedom and Democracy, were subjected to daily interrogations for ten days. In addition, their homes were searched and their computers, mobile phones and files were confiscated. They were not authorised to receive visitors or leave their neighbourhood in Hanoi during this time. The newspaper was banned after the first issue.
Lastly, on the occasion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit that was held in Hanoi from November 17 to 19, 2006, members of the security forces were permanently posted around Mr. Nguyen Khac Toan's home in Hanoi and stopped visitors from entering. On November 12, 2006, policemen hung a notice board on his door indicating "Security area – no foreigners allowed".
– On August 30, 2006, Mr. Pham Hong Son was released seven months before the end of his sentence as part of an amnesty to mark Vietnam's National Day on September 2, 2006. Nevertheless, Mr. Pham Hong Son will remain under house arrest for up to three years as part of his sentencing under Article 38 of the Criminal Code. On the day of his release, 20 policemen were posted in front of his house, his phone line was cut and his mobile phone was confiscated. In addition, Mr. Pham Hong Son is not allowed to leave the region without prior authorisation. This surveillance became more intense before and during the APEC Summit.
Mr. Pham Hong Song had been arrested on March 27, 2002 for having translated and posted online an article entitled "What is Democracy?" that he had found on the website of the American Embassy in Vietnam. He had previously written several articles promoting democracy and human rights, which he posted on online Vietnamese discussion forums.
In June 2003, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison for "espionage", a punishment that, under international pressure, had been reduced on August 26, 2003 to five years in prison and three years of house arrest.
Throughout his detention, Mr. Pham Hong Son's health seriously deteriorated due to a lack of medical care and harsh prison conditions.
Moreover, on November 17, 2006, Mr. Pham Hong Son was detained for seven hours in a police station, where he was repeatedly beaten.
Ongoing acts of harassment against Mr. Nguyen Dan Que124
In 2006, Mr. Nguyen Dan Que, who was released on February 2, 2005 by amnesty on the occasion of the Lunar New Year, continued to be harassed. Mr. Nguyen Dan Que had been arrested on March 17, 2003 and sentenced in July 2004 to two and a half years in prison for "abusing democratic rights to jeopardise the interests of the State and the legitimate rights and interests of social organisations and citizens" after he denounced obstacles to freedoms of expression and of the press in Vietnam.
Since then, Mr. Nguyen Dan Que has been subjected to police surveillance and repeated acts of harassment. His phone line has been tapped and often cut off, and his relatives and friends have also been harassed.
Ongoing acts of harassment against UBCV members
In 2006, leaders of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), a prohibited organisation, continued to be subjected to acts of harassment.
Ongoing acts of harassment against Thich Thien Minh125
Since his release on February 2, 2005, the monk Thich Thien Minh has been repeatedly harassed by the police forces. He had been sentenced to a double life sentence (in 1979 and in 1986), which was reduced to 20 years in prison for supporting UBCV and trying to escape a re-education camp.
For instance, Thich Thien Minh has still not received his identity card or a residency permit. The authorities also refused to let him go back to the pagoda in which he lived before his arrest in 1979, and systematically rejected his requests to build a small house where he could live a monastic life. Receiving death threats and harassed, he found refuge in the Giac Hoa pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City.
On November 19, 2006, the Superior Bonze of the Giac Hoa Pagoda was summoned by the security services, and the security director of the 7th arrondissement of Ho Chi Minh City ordered him to expell Thich Thien Minh.
Ongoing acts of harassment against Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do126
By the end of 2006, the patriarch Thich Huyen Quang and his assistant Thich Quang Do, both members of UBCV, remained under house arrest since 1982. On October 9, 2003, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated that the two monks had been charged with "holding State secrets" (Articles 263 and 264 of the Criminal Code).
On February 15, 2006, when Thich Quang Do was on his way to visit Thich Huyen Quang for the Lunar New Year, over 100 officers of the security police waited for him at Saigon station. They physically attacked him and later detained him for more than six hours before forcibly taking him back to his monastery.
In December 2006, the police prevented Thich Huyen Quang from going to Ho Chi Minh City where he needed to undergo medical exams for his heart and lung problems.
Moreover, the government repressed 13 local UBCV committees that had been set up to bring spiritual and humanitarian help to impoverished populations in the central and southern provinces of the country. The members of these committees were forced to disband and to cut all contact with UBCV. For example, on June 1, 2006, the nun Thich Nu Thong Man had to leave Dich Quang pagoda, Khanh Hoa province, after several months of constant harassment (threats, public denunciations, pressures on members of her family, etc.).
Other members of these local committees were victims of harassment, including: Thich Chon Tam (An Giang province), Thich Thien Minh (Bac Lieu), Thich Tam Lien (Binh Dinh), Thich Nhat Ban (Dong Nai), Thich Vinh Phuoc (Ba Ria-Vung Tau), Thich Thanh Quang (Da Nang), Thich Thien Hanh (Hue), Thich Vien Dinh and Thich Khong Tanh (Ho Chi Minh City).
On September 21, 2006, Mr. Thich Quang Do was awarded the 2006 Professor Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize by the Norwegian Rafto Foundation for his contribution to the movement for religious freedom and human rights in the country and as a "symbol of the growing democratic movement in Vietnam".
In order to receive his prize, which was to be awarded in Bergen on November 4, 2006, Mr. Thich Quang Do was invited to Norway. However, despite the request of the Norwegian authorities, Vietnam prohibited Thich Quang Do from travelling to Norway to receive his prize. Consequently, Mr. Vo Van Ai, the international spokesperson for UBCV, received the prize on his behalf.
Ongoing acts of harassment against Mr. Hoang Minh Chinh127
As of the end of 2006, Mr. Hoang Minh Chinh, former dean of the Institute of Marxist-Leninist Philosophy in Hanoi and an advocate for democratic reforms, remained under house arrest. His complaints filed with the authorities remained unanswered.
In June 2006, Mr. Hoang was again elected secretary general of the Democratic Party XXI, a position he had held from 1944 to 1988. In 1988, the Party had been dissolved by the Vietnamese Communist Party, but Mr. Hoang Minh Chinh decided to recreate it in 2006. Since then, he has not been authorised to leave his home and has been regularly subjected to police harassment.
In 2005, Mr. Hoang Minh Chinh gave evidence before the American Congress' Committee on International Relations and at Harvard University on the lack of democratic freedoms in Vietnam, during a medical visit to the United States. Upon his return to Vietnam on November 13, 2005, he and his wife went to their daughter's house in Ho Chi Minh City, where they wished to stay for a while due to Mr. Hoang's health condition. The police granted him a temporary residence permit of 10 days (according to Vietnamese law, residence permits have to be obtained each time one wants to stay overnight in another place than one's official residence).
On November 19, 2005, a local security agent warned the daughter of Mr. Hoang that her father's presence was causing serious unrest and dissatisfaction in the neighbourhood because he was "a traitor and an enemy of the people". The agent allegedly stated that the police would not protect him if any violence broke out.
Obstacles against the freedom of expression of several defenders during the APEC summit128
During the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, which was held in Hanoi from November 17 to 19, 2006, the security police set up surveillance posts outside the residence of numerous human rights defenders and pro-democracy activists. They also placed notice boards on their doors saying in English "No Foreigners" to discourage possible visitors. Several defenders were threatened, assaulted and subjected to questioning in the run up to the Summit:
– On November 14, 2006, agents of the Ministry of Public Security and of the local police set up a surveillance post in front of the house of Mr. Hoang Tien129, a writer, Thanh Xuan Bac district, in Hanoi, to stop all comings and goings. The policemen declared that they did not have any official mandate but that they had "received orders from their superiors to block his house during the APEC Summit".
– From November 14, 2006 onwards, ten security police officers surrounded the home of Mr. Nguyen Van Dai, a lawyer, and prohibited visits. In October 2006, Mr. Van Dai founded the Committee for Human Rights in Vietnam and has since been summoned several times by the police for questioning.
– Mr. Nguyen Phuong Anh, a cyber-dissident, was also prevented from receiving visitors as police officers were guarding his house in Hanoi. The police subjected him to repeated questioning for one month due to pro-democracy articles he had posted online.
– Mr. Duong Van Duong (alias Dai Duong), who publicly denounced the corruption of civil servants in the Thai Binh province and helped farmers from Mai Xuan Thuong Park to express their grievances, was violently beaten by four policemen in plain-clothes as he was leaving the park where the farmers and other "victims of injustice" regularly meet to protest. One of the policemen told him that they would "beat him to death", and they hit him on the face and in the stomach. Mr. Duong Van Duong was also prohibited from receiving or meeting foreign visitors.
– Security also reinforced its watch of dissidents in Ho Chi Minh City, where the international media and several foreign leaders were expected after the Summit, including the American President George W. Bush. On November 14, 2006, Mr. Doan Huy Chuong (alias Hoang Huy Chuong), a member of the newly-founded United Workers-Farmers Organisation (UWFO), was arrested in Ho Chi Minh City along with his two brothers. No mandate was presented to them. His arrest was likely related to his activities with the UWFO. Mr. Doan Huy Chuong was still detained by the end of 2006. Moreover, his father, Mr. Doan Van Dien, who had informed Radio Free Asia of his children's arrest, was arrested himself on November 15, 2006.
– Following these events, several UWFO members were subjected to harassment: on November 15, 2006, Mr. Nguyen Tan Hoanh, UWFO founder, was arrested in Long Thanh province. In early 2006, he had been one of the main leaders of workers' strikes in Vietnam. His whereabouts remained unknown. Moreover, Ms. Tran Thi Le Hong (alias Nguyen Thi Le Hong), also a founder of UWFO, was arrested on November 16, 2006, in Ho Chi Minh City. Her place of detention was also unknown.
– Ms. Bui Thi Kim Thanh, a lawyer, was placed in a psychiatric hospital in Ho Chi Minh City after being questioned by the security police. According to her family, the police first took her to a neighbourhood psychiatric hospital in early November, where doctors did not find any evidence of mental illness. The police then transferred her to the central psychiatric hospital of Bien Hoa, in Ho Chi Minh City. Ms. Bui Thi Kim Thanh had openly criticised the government's land confiscation policy. She also defended expropriated farmers and other "victims of injustice" by helping them to file complaints and seek compensation. As of the end of 2006, Ms. Bui Thi Kim Thanh was still detained in the psychiatric hospital. The authorities reportedly offered to release her if she promised not to report on the treatment she was subjected to in that hospital, but she refused.
– On November 19, Thich Vien Dinh, vice president and secretary general of Vien Hoa Dao, the executive institute of UBCV, was summoned by the director of the security police of the 7th district of Ho Chi Minh City for a "working session" (an interrogation) at the police station, which lasted two hours. Moreover, the police strictly banned all UBCV monks from speaking to the media and to foreign diplomats during the APEC summit.
These events took place shortly after the arrest in Hanoi of the Buddhist nun Thich Nu Dam Thoa on November 14, 2006. She was detained in a "camp for social elements" in Bac Giang, Northern Vietnam, and was accused of being on a list of people who would allegedly have sought to meet the American President during the APEC Summit. She was released shortly after the end of the Summit.
– During this summit, Mr. Do Nam Hai, who has been regularly harassed for openly criticising the authorities in articles published on the Internet and calling for democratic and pluralistic reforms in Vietnam under the name of Phuong Nam, was questioned several times by the police. Moreover, Mr. Do Nam Hai remained under close surveillance by the Vietnamese secret services and was still harassed by the police. In February 2005, he had been fired for refusing to stop his activities130.
Lastly, in contrast to previous APEC Summits, the Vietnamese government did not authorise the holding of a parallel People's Forum on NGOs, thereby preventing civil society from expressing their concerns.
[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.]
122. See Annual Report 2005.
123. See Annual Report 2005 and Press Releases, September 8 and November 20, 2006.
124. See Annual Report 2005.
125. Idem.
126. See Annual Report 2005 and Press Release, October 31, 2006.
127. See Annual Report 2005.
128. See Press Release, November 20, 2006.
129. See above.
130. See Annual Report 2005.
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