Defenders’ Weekly | Mar 29, 2015
**********23/3/2015***********
Catholic Father Phan Van Loi, Buddhist Venerable Thich Khong Thanh Harassed, Threatened by Thugs
On Mar 22, Catholic priest Phan Van Loi and Buddhist Venerable Thich Khong Thanh were harassed by local police when they met in a private house of the former.
When the two talked inside, a group of four-five plainclothes agents stayed outside and insulted Ven. Tanh.
Priest Loi telephoned the police chiefs of Thua Thien-Hue province and Hue city but the two police officers refused to intervene.
Mr. Loi told the Radio of Free Asia that in a number of cases, local police harassed his visitors.
RFA: Linh mục Phan Văn Lợi và TT Thích Không Tánh bị côn đồ sách nhiễu,hăm dọa
===================
I Am Very Proud to Receive Norwegian Prize: Dissident writer Nghia
I am very proud to receive the Freedom of Expression Prize of the Norwegian Authors’ Union, said writer Nguyen Xuan Nghia, who completed his six-year imprisonment for his writings in September last year.
The prize means that Norwegian people are knowing the fight of Vietnamese people for democracy and freedom, said Mr. Nghia, who is under three-year house arrest and not allowed to travel to Oslo to receive the prize.
Human rights, freedom and democracy are common value, he noted.
Mr. Nghia was arrested in 2008 for anti-state propaganda. He was sentenced to six years in jail, and he was under solitary cell for six months.
His wife was invited by the Norwegian Authors’ Union to represent him in a ceremony at HOTEL BRISTOL in Oslo on Mar 22.
BBC: ‘Tôi rất vui khi được nhận giải thưởng’
VOA: Nhà văn Nguyễn Xuân Nghĩa được trao giải Tự Do Ngôn Luận 2014
************24/3/2015************
Prisoner of Conscience Tran Vu Anh Binh Disciplined by Prison
On Mar 19, prisoner conscience Tran Vu Anh Binh was disciplined by the authorities of Xuyen Moc K3 prison. He was handcuffed and taken away without being allowed to take his personal items with him.
Three other political prisoners Dinh Nguyen Kha, Nguyen Hoang Quoc Hung and Dang Xuan Dieu declared hunger strike on the same day to protest the move against Mr. Binh.
Mr. Kha informed his family about Mr. Binh’s fate and the on-going fast of the trio.
Political prisoners have been facing severe treatment of prison’s authorities and their health has been worsened.
The family of Mr. Binh has sought help from international human rights organizations to stop state persecution against prisoners of conscience.
for further reading: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/vietnam/strike-03252015151924.html?searchterm:utf8:ustring=Trio+of+Vietnamese+Political+Prisoners+Stage+Hunger+Strike+Over+Missing+Cellmate
VRNs: TNLT Trần Vũ Anh Bình bị ‘kỷ luật nóng’
=================
Representatives of Women Association of Human Rights Visit Families Prisoners of Conscience
Representatives of the Women Association of Human Rights, with support of Vietnamese in Germany, visited and handed over some gifts for a number of families of prisoners of conscience nationwide.
The association has called on Vietnamese in the country and abroad to continue to support materially for prisoners of conscience and their families to overcome harassments of the communist government which strives to maintain the country under one-party state.
DTD: Hội Phụ nữ Nhân quyền viếng thăm các gia đình tù nhân lương tâm
*************24/3/2015************
Three Prisoners of Consciences in Xuan Loc Conduct Hunger, Demanding Prison to Provide information for Political Prisoner Tran Vu Anh Binh
Three prominent political prisoners in Vietnam on hunger strike for nearly a week say they will not end their protest until authorities inform them of the whereabouts of a fellow inmate, according to the mother of one of the activists, who expressed concerns about their health.
Dinh Nguyen Kha, Dang Xuan Dieu and Nguyen Hoang Quoc Hung began their hunger strike at the Xuyen Moc prison in Ba Ria Vung Tau province along with their cellmate Tran Vu Anh Binh on March 19 in protest of poor conditions, Kha’s mother Nguyen Thi Kim Lien told RFA’s Vietnamese Service following her visit with him over the weekend.
However, Binh, who is a Catholic, was handcuffed and taken away the same day following an argument with guards who had torn off his rosary beads during a search, Lien said. The other three prisoners had since vowed to continue their hunger strike until authorities informed them of Binh’s whereabouts and condition, she added.
Prison authorities confirmed to her that Kha had declined to take food, adding that it was against policy to let inmates go hungry.
Lien said her son had informed her Dieu and Hung were both “very ill” because of the strike, and that guards cut her hour-long visit with Kha short by 20 minutes because he had been told not to talk about other prisoners.
“They said that they had already warned him not to mention other inmates, otherwise they would cut short the visit,” she said.
During her last visit in January, Lien said Kha told her that he, Dieu, Hung and Binh had held a 10-day hunger strike earlier that month in protest of ill-treatment at the prison after authorities had refused them newspapers, books and a Vietnamese-English dictionary sent by supporters.
Kha said the four men had ended their protest after officials from the Ba Ria Vung Tau prosecutor’s office agreed to investigate their complaint.
“The [prison] warden told me [at the time] they would not respond to any request [about conditions] and that the requests were illegal. That was why Kha sent his petition against the prison to … the prosecutor’s office for Ba Ria Vung Tau,” she said.
“[The prosecutor’s office] did go to the prison and talked with Kha and the warden. They told Kha he would need another inmate present with him to act as witness to his complaint, but the warden would not allow that.”
The refusal to consider their complaint about prison conditions prompted the four to start another hunger strike last week, Lien said.
Former political prisoner Truong Minh Tam, who had served time with Dieu at Prison No. 5 in Thanh Hoa province, and who has visited him regularly at Xuyen Moc, told RFA that he was concerned the hunger strike would seriously affect his health, which he said was already frail to begin with.
“Ill-treatment in Prison No. 5 and his previous hunger strikes—the longest of which was seven months—have made him very sickly,” he said.
“Based on what I’ve seen, in his current situation, if Dieu continues his hunger strike for another three to five days, he may end up in critical condition.”
Four activists
A computer technician, Dinh Nguyen Kha was arrested in October 2012 on charges of spreading anti-state propaganda over leaflets he distributed at a protest over territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.
He was initially jailed for eight years in May 2013 but, in a rare reversal by authorities, his sentence was reduced to four years in August that year.
Engineer Dang Xuan Dieu was jailed for 13 years in 2013 on charges of plotting to overthrow the authoritarian government in Hanoi.
Nguyen Hoang Quoc Hung was accused of inciting workers to go on strike at the My Phong footwear company in Tra Vinh province in southern Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region, where thousands protested in January and February 2010 for better working conditions and higher wages.
Hung was sentenced on Oct. 27 that year to nine years in prison on charges of disturbing public order and “acting against the people’s administration,” according to Article 89 of Vietnam’s Penal Code.
Ho Chi Minh City-based musician Tran Vu Anh Binh was sentenced in October 2012 to six years in jail for producing “propaganda against the state” after allegedly contributing to a blog run by the Patriot Youth, an overseas political opposition group.
Several popular singers in Vietnam have preformed music by Binh, who is a choir member with the Catholic Redemptory’s Order and has written songs against the imprisonment of dissidents.
RFA: Tù nhân lương tâm trại tù Xuyên Mộc tuyệt thực
************26/3/2015*************
Priest Barred from Attending Human Right Seminar Abroad
Catholic priest Antoine Le Ngoc Thanh, executive of Saigon Redemptory Church’s communication and a member of the Vietnam Inter-religion Council, was stopped by security forces in Ho Chi Minh City-based Tan Son Nhat International Airport when he was on his way to travel to the Philippines, where he was invited to attend an international human rights seminar held in Manila on Mar 25-26.
Mr. Thanh is one of three Vietnamese listed by the Reporters Without Borders among 100 world’s communication heroes in 2014.
Vietnam’s government has imposed a ban from going abroad many activists.
RFA: Cấm xuất cảnh thu hộ chiếu vì sợ sự thật?
====================
Vietnam Activists Launch “Boycott Parliament” Campaign
A number of Vietnamese activists have launched a campaign to boycott the country’s legislative body National Assembly, saying it is rubber stamp and serves for the ruling communist, not the voters.
They said the Vietnamese parliament is not really elected by local people so it does not promote human rights situation in the country. It has ignored the government’s political crackdown against human rights activists.
The campaign started ahead of the 132nd Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly (IPU-132) held in Hanoi on Mar 28-Apr 1.
DTD: Hướng về IPU Hà Nội: Phía Sau Một “Quốc Hội Tối Cao”
**************27/3/2015*************
Binh Duong Province-based Mennonite Church Attacked Against
On Mar 25, around 25 thugs came to Anh Sang kindergarten of Mennonite Protestant followers and beat severely Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang and his son Y Thieu, Pastor Le Quang Du, and Mr. Nguyen Quang Trieu.
The thug used iron batons to attack the four people. Mr. Du was later detained to the local police station. He was hospitalized to treat severe injuries caused by plainclothes agents.
Later, Binh Duong police released all after receiving order from Hanoi.
Currently, the four beaten people’s health is critical.
DTD: Mennonite Bình Dương lại bị côn đồ tấn công
***********28/3/2015************
90,000 Workers in HCM City Go Strike for Social Insurance
On Mar 26-27, nearly 90,000 workers of Ho Chi Minh city-based PouYuen Vietnam Co. went strike to demand for social insurance and protest the Law on Social Insurance adopted by the parliament in 2014.
The strike was not against PouYuen Vietnam Co., the Taiwanese company.
The workers protested Article 60 of the law, which does not allow workers enjoy social insurance, according to Lao Dong, the mouthpiece of the Vietnam General Trade Union which is controlled by the government.
BBC: Công nhân VN đình công vì Luật Bảo hiểm xã hội
===================
HCM City-activist Barred from Going to Meet Foreign Lawmakers in Hanoi
On the evening of Mar 27, many security agents came to the private house of Mr. Pham Ba Hai, coordinator of the Former Vietnamese Prisoners of Conscience, to ask him not to go to Hanoi where he is scheduled to meet some of foreign lawmakers who are attending the 132nd Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly (IPU-132) held in Hanoi on Mar 28-Apr 1.
In the morning of Mar 28, when Mr. Hai left his house to head to Tan Son Nhat International Airport, he was stopped by policemen who demanded him to return back to his house.
Mr. Hai said he had an appointment with foreign legislators to hand over petitions of Vietnamese unsanctioned civil societies on the government human rights violations.
The move of HCM City’s police is serious violation of the country’s Constitution, Mr. Hai said, adding that Vietnam’s parliament is rubber-stamp since it has not promote human rights but serve for the ruling communist party only.
FB PhamBaHai: LỆNH CẤM RA HÀ NỘI
*********29/3/2015**********
Police Detains Prominent Blogger, Blocking Many Others
Police in the central city of Nha Trang on Mar 28 detained Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, a prominent dissident with nickname Me Nam (Mushroom mother) and Nguyen Truong Thien when the duo was on their way to a local airport to take a flight to Hanoi.
Security forces in many place also blocked many local activists, not allowing them to go out.
The moves came ahead of the planned meeting of Vietnamese activists on Sunday with a number of foreign lawmakers who are attending the 132nd Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly (IPU-132) held in Hanoi on Mar 28-Apr 1.
RFA: Công an bắt Blogger Mẹ Nấm, nhiều người khác bị bao vây tại nhà
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March 30, 2015
Vietnam Human Rights Defenders’ Weekly Mar 23-29, 2015: Binh Duong Mennonite Church Attacked against by Mobs
by Nhan Quyen • [Human Rights], DEFENDER’S WEEKLY
Defenders’ Weekly | Mar 29, 2015
On Mar 25, around 25 thugs came to Anh Sang kindergarten of Mennonite Protestant followers and beat severely Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang and his son Y Thieu, Pastor Le Quang Du, and Mr. Nguyen Quang Trieu.
On Mar 19, prisoner of conscience Tran Vu Anh Binh was disciplined by authorities of Xuyen Moc K3 prison. He was handcuffed and transferred to unknown place without being allowed to take his personnel items.
Catholic priest Antoine Le Ngoc Thanh, executive of Saigon Redemptory Church’s communication, member of the Vietnam Inter-religion Council, was stopped by security forces in Tan Son Nhat International Airport when he was on his way to travel to the Philippines. The security forces confiscated his passport without giving any reason.
Former prisoner of conscience Pham Ba Hai was barred from Ho Chi Minh City’s police from traveling to Hanoi where he is scheduled to meet with foreign lawmakers who are attending the IPU-132.
and other news.
**********23/3/2015***********
Catholic Father Phan Van Loi, Buddhist Venerable Thich Khong Thanh Harassed, Threatened by Thugs
On Mar 22, Catholic priest Phan Van Loi and Buddhist Venerable Thich Khong Thanh were harassed by local police when they met in a private house of the former.
When the two talked inside, a group of four-five plainclothes agents stayed outside and insulted Ven. Tanh.
Priest Loi telephoned the police chiefs of Thua Thien-Hue province and Hue city but the two police officers refused to intervene.
Mr. Loi told the Radio of Free Asia that in a number of cases, local police harassed his visitors.
RFA: Linh mục Phan Văn Lợi và TT Thích Không Tánh bị côn đồ sách nhiễu,hăm dọa
===================
I Am Very Proud to Receive Norwegian Prize: Dissident writer Nghia
I am very proud to receive the Freedom of Expression Prize of the Norwegian Authors’ Union, said writer Nguyen Xuan Nghia, who completed his six-year imprisonment for his writings in September last year.
The prize means that Norwegian people are knowing the fight of Vietnamese people for democracy and freedom, said Mr. Nghia, who is under three-year house arrest and not allowed to travel to Oslo to receive the prize.
Human rights, freedom and democracy are common value, he noted.
Mr. Nghia was arrested in 2008 for anti-state propaganda. He was sentenced to six years in jail, and he was under solitary cell for six months.
His wife was invited by the Norwegian Authors’ Union to represent him in a ceremony at HOTEL BRISTOL in Oslo on Mar 22.
BBC: ‘Tôi rất vui khi được nhận giải thưởng’
VOA: Nhà văn Nguyễn Xuân Nghĩa được trao giải Tự Do Ngôn Luận 2014
************24/3/2015************
Prisoner of Conscience Tran Vu Anh Binh Disciplined by Prison
On Mar 19, prisoner conscience Tran Vu Anh Binh was disciplined by the authorities of Xuyen Moc K3 prison. He was handcuffed and taken away without being allowed to take his personal items with him.
Three other political prisoners Dinh Nguyen Kha, Nguyen Hoang Quoc Hung and Dang Xuan Dieu declared hunger strike on the same day to protest the move against Mr. Binh.
Mr. Kha informed his family about Mr. Binh’s fate and the on-going fast of the trio.
Political prisoners have been facing severe treatment of prison’s authorities and their health has been worsened.
The family of Mr. Binh has sought help from international human rights organizations to stop state persecution against prisoners of conscience.
for further reading: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/vietnam/strike-03252015151924.html?searchterm:utf8:ustring=Trio+of+Vietnamese+Political+Prisoners+Stage+Hunger+Strike+Over+Missing+Cellmate
VRNs: TNLT Trần Vũ Anh Bình bị ‘kỷ luật nóng’
=================
Representatives of Women Association of Human Rights Visit Families Prisoners of Conscience
Representatives of the Women Association of Human Rights, with support of Vietnamese in Germany, visited and handed over some gifts for a number of families of prisoners of conscience nationwide.
The association has called on Vietnamese in the country and abroad to continue to support materially for prisoners of conscience and their families to overcome harassments of the communist government which strives to maintain the country under one-party state.
DTD: Hội Phụ nữ Nhân quyền viếng thăm các gia đình tù nhân lương tâm
*************24/3/2015************
Three Prisoners of Consciences in Xuan Loc Conduct Hunger, Demanding Prison to Provide information for Political Prisoner Tran Vu Anh Binh
Three prominent political prisoners in Vietnam on hunger strike for nearly a week say they will not end their protest until authorities inform them of the whereabouts of a fellow inmate, according to the mother of one of the activists, who expressed concerns about their health.
Dinh Nguyen Kha, Dang Xuan Dieu and Nguyen Hoang Quoc Hung began their hunger strike at the Xuyen Moc prison in Ba Ria Vung Tau province along with their cellmate Tran Vu Anh Binh on March 19 in protest of poor conditions, Kha’s mother Nguyen Thi Kim Lien told RFA’s Vietnamese Service following her visit with him over the weekend.
However, Binh, who is a Catholic, was handcuffed and taken away the same day following an argument with guards who had torn off his rosary beads during a search, Lien said. The other three prisoners had since vowed to continue their hunger strike until authorities informed them of Binh’s whereabouts and condition, she added.
Prison authorities confirmed to her that Kha had declined to take food, adding that it was against policy to let inmates go hungry.
Lien said her son had informed her Dieu and Hung were both “very ill” because of the strike, and that guards cut her hour-long visit with Kha short by 20 minutes because he had been told not to talk about other prisoners.
“They said that they had already warned him not to mention other inmates, otherwise they would cut short the visit,” she said.
During her last visit in January, Lien said Kha told her that he, Dieu, Hung and Binh had held a 10-day hunger strike earlier that month in protest of ill-treatment at the prison after authorities had refused them newspapers, books and a Vietnamese-English dictionary sent by supporters.
Kha said the four men had ended their protest after officials from the Ba Ria Vung Tau prosecutor’s office agreed to investigate their complaint.
“The [prison] warden told me [at the time] they would not respond to any request [about conditions] and that the requests were illegal. That was why Kha sent his petition against the prison to … the prosecutor’s office for Ba Ria Vung Tau,” she said.
“[The prosecutor’s office] did go to the prison and talked with Kha and the warden. They told Kha he would need another inmate present with him to act as witness to his complaint, but the warden would not allow that.”
The refusal to consider their complaint about prison conditions prompted the four to start another hunger strike last week, Lien said.
Former political prisoner Truong Minh Tam, who had served time with Dieu at Prison No. 5 in Thanh Hoa province, and who has visited him regularly at Xuyen Moc, told RFA that he was concerned the hunger strike would seriously affect his health, which he said was already frail to begin with.
“Ill-treatment in Prison No. 5 and his previous hunger strikes—the longest of which was seven months—have made him very sickly,” he said.
“Based on what I’ve seen, in his current situation, if Dieu continues his hunger strike for another three to five days, he may end up in critical condition.”
Four activists
A computer technician, Dinh Nguyen Kha was arrested in October 2012 on charges of spreading anti-state propaganda over leaflets he distributed at a protest over territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.
He was initially jailed for eight years in May 2013 but, in a rare reversal by authorities, his sentence was reduced to four years in August that year.
Engineer Dang Xuan Dieu was jailed for 13 years in 2013 on charges of plotting to overthrow the authoritarian government in Hanoi.
Nguyen Hoang Quoc Hung was accused of inciting workers to go on strike at the My Phong footwear company in Tra Vinh province in southern Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region, where thousands protested in January and February 2010 for better working conditions and higher wages.
Hung was sentenced on Oct. 27 that year to nine years in prison on charges of disturbing public order and “acting against the people’s administration,” according to Article 89 of Vietnam’s Penal Code.
Ho Chi Minh City-based musician Tran Vu Anh Binh was sentenced in October 2012 to six years in jail for producing “propaganda against the state” after allegedly contributing to a blog run by the Patriot Youth, an overseas political opposition group.
Several popular singers in Vietnam have preformed music by Binh, who is a choir member with the Catholic Redemptory’s Order and has written songs against the imprisonment of dissidents.
RFA: Tù nhân lương tâm trại tù Xuyên Mộc tuyệt thực
************26/3/2015*************
Priest Barred from Attending Human Right Seminar Abroad
Catholic priest Antoine Le Ngoc Thanh, executive of Saigon Redemptory Church’s communication and a member of the Vietnam Inter-religion Council, was stopped by security forces in Ho Chi Minh City-based Tan Son Nhat International Airport when he was on his way to travel to the Philippines, where he was invited to attend an international human rights seminar held in Manila on Mar 25-26.
Mr. Thanh is one of three Vietnamese listed by the Reporters Without Borders among 100 world’s communication heroes in 2014.
Vietnam’s government has imposed a ban from going abroad many activists.
RFA: Cấm xuất cảnh thu hộ chiếu vì sợ sự thật?
====================
Vietnam Activists Launch “Boycott Parliament” Campaign
A number of Vietnamese activists have launched a campaign to boycott the country’s legislative body National Assembly, saying it is rubber stamp and serves for the ruling communist, not the voters.
They said the Vietnamese parliament is not really elected by local people so it does not promote human rights situation in the country. It has ignored the government’s political crackdown against human rights activists.
The campaign started ahead of the 132nd Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly (IPU-132) held in Hanoi on Mar 28-Apr 1.
DTD: Hướng về IPU Hà Nội: Phía Sau Một “Quốc Hội Tối Cao”
**************27/3/2015*************
Binh Duong Province-based Mennonite Church Attacked Against
On Mar 25, around 25 thugs came to Anh Sang kindergarten of Mennonite Protestant followers and beat severely Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang and his son Y Thieu, Pastor Le Quang Du, and Mr. Nguyen Quang Trieu.
The thug used iron batons to attack the four people. Mr. Du was later detained to the local police station. He was hospitalized to treat severe injuries caused by plainclothes agents.
Later, Binh Duong police released all after receiving order from Hanoi.
Currently, the four beaten people’s health is critical.
DTD: Mennonite Bình Dương lại bị côn đồ tấn công
***********28/3/2015************
90,000 Workers in HCM City Go Strike for Social Insurance
On Mar 26-27, nearly 90,000 workers of Ho Chi Minh city-based PouYuen Vietnam Co. went strike to demand for social insurance and protest the Law on Social Insurance adopted by the parliament in 2014.
The strike was not against PouYuen Vietnam Co., the Taiwanese company.
The workers protested Article 60 of the law, which does not allow workers enjoy social insurance, according to Lao Dong, the mouthpiece of the Vietnam General Trade Union which is controlled by the government.
BBC: Công nhân VN đình công vì Luật Bảo hiểm xã hội
===================
HCM City-activist Barred from Going to Meet Foreign Lawmakers in Hanoi
On the evening of Mar 27, many security agents came to the private house of Mr. Pham Ba Hai, coordinator of the Former Vietnamese Prisoners of Conscience, to ask him not to go to Hanoi where he is scheduled to meet some of foreign lawmakers who are attending the 132nd Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly (IPU-132) held in Hanoi on Mar 28-Apr 1.
In the morning of Mar 28, when Mr. Hai left his house to head to Tan Son Nhat International Airport, he was stopped by policemen who demanded him to return back to his house.
Mr. Hai said he had an appointment with foreign legislators to hand over petitions of Vietnamese unsanctioned civil societies on the government human rights violations.
The move of HCM City’s police is serious violation of the country’s Constitution, Mr. Hai said, adding that Vietnam’s parliament is rubber-stamp since it has not promote human rights but serve for the ruling communist party only.
FB PhamBaHai: LỆNH CẤM RA HÀ NỘI
*********29/3/2015**********
Police Detains Prominent Blogger, Blocking Many Others
Police in the central city of Nha Trang on Mar 28 detained Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, a prominent dissident with nickname Me Nam (Mushroom mother) and Nguyen Truong Thien when the duo was on their way to a local airport to take a flight to Hanoi.
Security forces in many place also blocked many local activists, not allowing them to go out.
The moves came ahead of the planned meeting of Vietnamese activists on Sunday with a number of foreign lawmakers who are attending the 132nd Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly (IPU-132) held in Hanoi on Mar 28-Apr 1.
RFA: Công an bắt Blogger Mẹ Nấm, nhiều người khác bị bao vây tại nhà