Danang-based Activist Attacked with Dirty Mess Eight Days after Tortured by Police

Injured Nguyen Van Thanh attacked with fish sauce mess on Juen 13, 2016

Injured Nguyen Van Thanh attacked with fish sauce mess on June 13, 2016

The victim suspected that the attacker is a secret agent or supported by the local government.

By Vu Quoc Ngu, June 13, 2016

Nguyen Van Thanh, a political dissident in Vietnam’s central city of Danang, on June 13 was attacked by with a fish sauce mess by a thug, just eight days after being tortured by the local police.

The victim suspected that the attacker is a secret agent or supported by the local government.

Yesterday, police stopped him while he was riding a motorbike belonging to his friend. As Thanh failed to show the motorbike owner’s card, police took the vehicle and demanded him bring the document. When Thanh returned with the motorbike’s owner, police gave back the vehicle but it was broken. Thanh found that someone put sand into the motorbike’s engine.

On June 5, Thanh was detained by the local police and he was severely beaten by police officers during the detention.

Thanh, a pro-democracy activist with numerous online articles calling for political pluralism and human rights, has been subject of the local authorities’ torture. He has been beaten many times by police officers and plainclothes agents in the past few years.

In addition to blocking his economic activities, the local authorities have also ordered landlords not to allow him to rent a room. He has forced to move from one place to another very often and sometimes he has no choice to stay in hotel.

Despite constant persecution, Thanh has vowed to continue his path to advocate for political pluralism and human rights enhancement in the Southeast Asian nation.