HCM City Authorities Violently Detain Former Political Prisoner Pham Minh Hoang, Deportation Expected

by Defend the Defenders, June 23, 2017

Security forces in Ho Chi Minh City have violently detained former prisoner of conscience Pham Minh Hoang and took him to unknown direction, his wife Le Thi Kieu Oanh announced local activists.

Mrs. Oanh said police jumped in their private residence in the city and took him away. They used special equipment to stop telecommunication wave in the areas and closed her inside the house so she cannot inform anyone about the detention.

She was freed after they withdrew.

The detention of university lecturer Hoang was made few days after the city’s police summoned him to a local police station but he refused to go. The move may be part of Vietnam’s plan to deport him to France.

Mr. Hoang, a France-trained master, is facing deportation to France after President Tran Dai Quang issued a decision to revoke his citizenship last month.

Hoang, who also has French nationality, had sent his letter to the French authorities to give up his French nationality earlier this month to demonstrate his willingness to live in Vietnam with  family and his old mother and ill brother.

Many international human rights organizations have condemned Vietnam’s decision on revoking Hoang’s citizenship while his lawyers said the move is illegal and violates Vietnam’s law.

.