Vietnam Prominent Political Prisoner Agrees to Shorten Hunger Strike on June 7 after Meeting with Other Dissidents

Democracy advocate and human rights defender Tran Huynh Duy Thuc before being arrested in 2009

Democracy advocate and human rights defender Tran Huynh Duy Thuc before being arrested in 2009

Mr. Thuc, who had announced to launch an indefinite fasting in his prison cell from May 24 to demand for rule of law and a national referendum on the political system in Vietnam, made this decision after a group of former political prisoners, including prominent lawyer Le Cong Dinh, Pham Ba Hai and Le Thang Long came to persuade him to end his hunger strike to save his life to continue to fight for the country’s cause for multi-party democracy and human rights improvement.

By Vu Quoc Ngu, June 2, 2016

Vietnamese prominent political dissident Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, who is serving his 16-year imprisonment, has agreed to shorten his hunger strike on June 7 after meeting with other dissidents in a prison on June 1, local social networks have reported.

Mr. Thuc, who had announced to launch an indefinite fasting in his prison cell from May 24 to demand for rule of law and a national referendum on the political system in Vietnam, made this decision after a group of former political prisoners, including prominent lawyer Le Cong Dinh, Pham Ba Hai and Le Thang Long came to persuade him to end his hunger strike to save his life to continue to fight for the country’s cause for multi-party democracy and human rights improvement.

However, Thuc will continue his fasting until June 7, making his fasting to last 15 days.

Last month, he was transferred from a prison in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau to the Prison No. 6 in the central province of Nghe An.

Before the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama to Vietnam on May 23-25, Hanoi pledged to release Thuc in condition that he agrees to live in exile in the U.S. However, Thuc refused the proposal, saying he would stay in the country to fight for democracy and human rights.

His plan to carry out indefinite hunger strike has attracted domestic and international community. Many foreign politicians and human rights organizations as well as domestic activists have expressed their concerns about the life of Thuc. They have voiced to ask Vietnam’s government to release him, and strived to call on him to halt the fasting plan.

Hundreds of Vietnamese activists worldwide have conducted hunger strike to support Thuc, who is one of the London-based Amnesty International’s prisoners of conscience.

Mr. Thuc was arrested seven years ago and accused of carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the administration under Article 79. In fact, his writings aimed to advocate political and economic reforms in the communist nation.

For more details about Mr. Thuc, please read: Vietnam Prominent Prisoner of Conscience Plans Long-lasting Hunger Strike, Rejecting to Live in Exile in U.S.

Many Vietnamese prisoners of conscience, including legal experts Cu Huy Ha Vu, prominent bloggers Nguyen Van Hai (aka Dieu Cay) and Ta Phong Tan, had conducted long-lasting hunger strikes to protest inhumane treatments of prisons’ authorities against inmates, especially political prisoners. They ended fasting after the prisons’ authorities agreed to meet their requests.

In the past seven years, Thuc had conducted a number of hunger strikes to protest human rights violations of prisons’ authorities.

However, it is unlikely that Vietnam’s government will accept Mr. Thuc’s requirements this time as the communists have vowed to keep the country under a one-party regime, said observers, adding the life of Mr. Thuc is threatened if he continues his fasting until his demands are met.