Vietnam Human Rights Defenders’ Weekly July 27- Aug 02: Defend the Defenders Marks 3rd Annniversary

Defenders’ Weekly | Aug 02, 2015

******************** 25/07/2015***********************

Defend the Defenders Provides Drinking Water for Hanoi-based Activists in World Hunger Strike Day

Defend the Defenders provided VND2 million for Hanoi-based activists to help them buy drinking water for the World Hunger Strike Day on July 25.

The massive fasting aims to request the communist government to improve its human rights record and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience.

Over 200 activists in Hanoi joined hundreds of others in the country and foreign nations to conduct the one-day hunger strike.

************27/7/2015**************

HCMC Police Releases Local Boy Wearing T-shirt with Zombie Emblem

Nguyen Thanh Phuoc, a Ho Chi Minh City-based young boy arrested for wearing T-shirt with Zombie emblem, was released after being illegally a

His freedom is the result of a campaign namely #freePhi which demanded for his unconditional release.

On July 11, policemen blocked the areas of a fountain in Nguyen Hue street and arrested several young individuals just because they were wearing shirts with a Zombie emblem which is a sign representing a spontaneous campaign of young Vietnamese which condemns the brutal and corrupt communist government and calls young generation to wake up, open their eyes and use their brain to think, rather than remain as zombies–the walking dead without soul.

After demanding the detained individuals to pledge to change their shirts, police released all of them but not Nguyen Phi who refused to provide information about the person who supplied their shirts.

Later, police searched his house for Zombie shirts and confiscated his personal computer.

Phuoc’s arrest triggered disatisfaction of Vietnamese activists nationwide who launched a campaign by wearing Zombie T-shirts to demand for his freedom.

SBTN: Thanh niên bị bắt vì mặc áo Zombie đã được trả tự do

*************28/7/2015*****************

Prominent Blogger Accuses Security Forces of Beating Her and Other Activists

Nha Trang province-based blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (aka Me Nam or Mushroom Mother) has accused the local security forces from beating her and some other activists when they participated in the World Hunger Strike Day on July 25 which aims request the communist government to improve its human rights record and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience.

Few minutes after activists gathered together in a public place, policemen came and detained them to a police station where policemen assaulted the detainees.

RFA: VN ‘trấn áp’ người ‘tuyệt thực toàn cầu’

*********************29/7/2015****************

Over 1,000 Vietnamese Activists Participate in World Hunger Strike Day on July 25

Over 1,000 Vietnamese activists in the country and abroad went on a one-day hunger strike on July 25 to request the communist government to improve its human rights record and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience.

In Vietnam, over 200 activists gathered in public places to conduct the fast while many others had been forced to hold hunger strike in their private houses as local security forces blocked them.

Many of the hunger strikers, including blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (aka Me Nam or Mushroom Mother) were brutally beaten by security forces in the central province of Nha Trang.

Over 500 Vietnamese took part in the fast in many countries, including the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Norway, South Korea and New Zealand.

Vietnamese activists will hold other activities to demand for human rights respection in the one-party state.

Danluan: Thông cáo tổng kết ngày Tổng Tuyệt Thực toàn cầu 25/07/2015

****************30/7/2015****************

One More Prisoner Dies in Cell with Many Severe Injuries on His Body

A Vietnamese prisoner, who is serving his 8-year imprisonment for stealing a cell phone, was found to die in a Hanoi-based detention facility with many serious injuries on his body, state-controlled media has reported.

Vu Nam Ninh, 45, died on July 20, in Detention Center No. 1 in Ba Dinh district and his family was informed about his death one day later.

Ms. Vu Thi Thanh Huyen, Ninh’s sister, said her family was told by Hanoi’s authorities to visit the Hospital 198 of the Ministry of Public Security where her brother’s body was preserved. The death was the result of complications from an “illness”, the police said.

Huyen said she found a number of severe injuries on her brother’s body and their family suspected that the death was caused by beating.

“His body was in terrible condition. His hands and his face were full of watery fluid … [He had a] broken leg and a broken collarbone,” Huyen told the Radio of Free Asia.

“We saw a lot of bruises on his back, and some spots that seemed to have been caused by shocks from electric batons. A finger on his left hand was broken and he had blood in his nose and ear,” she said.

The victim’s family has filled complaints to a number of state agencies to demand clarifying the true reasons for Mr. Ninh’s death, newspapers said.

Huyen said her brother has been jailed for eight years for stealing a cell phone during a night of drinking. The sentence was too severe, given the fact that her brother voluntarily returned the phone to the owner one day later and came to the police station to confess his fault.

Ninh is among numerous detainees and arrested died in police detention facilities and prisons in Vietnam during the past few years.

According to the government report, 226 detainees and arrested died in police stations and prisons in the past four years. Police said most of their deaths were caused by suicides and illness, however, their families believe that torture and bad treatment are main causes of their deaths.

Vietnam adopted the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment last year. However, torture and inhumane treatment is still rampant in the one-party country.

So far this year, seven people have been reported to die in police stations nationwide.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, few police officers have been disciplined for committing torture.

RFA: Thêm một người chết bất minh trong trại giam

**************31/7/2015***************

Hanoi Police Try to Silence Victim’s Family with Bribery

Police in Hanoi have offered a large sum of money for the family of Vu Nam Ninh, who was founded in Hoa Lo prison, in exchange of silence from the family.

However, the family rejected and demanded for investigation to clerify the true reasons for Ninh’s death.

Police said Ninh, who has served his 8-year imprisonment for stealing a cell phone, died from illness while his family suspected that he was tortured to death since there were numerous severe injuries on his body and face.

Finally, the police and the family agreed about an autopsy of Ninh’s body on July 31. Only two family members will be allowed to attend but without making pictures and video.

VOA: Công an dùng ‘phong bì’ để giải quyết vụ chết người trong trại giam

**************1/8/2015************

Senior Communist Sentenced to 3 Years on Probation for Causing Traffic Accident with Three Deaths

Lanh Duc Dung, who is the communist party chief in Ha Quang district in the northernmost province of Cao Bang, received three-year probation sentence for causing traffic accident which killed three local residents.

On July 30, Dung was brought to the provincial People’s Court for killing three local residents in the accident in Phu Ngoc commune six months earlier.

The court gave a very light sentence for him, saying he was the party official with numerous awards in the past.

It is unclear whether he will continue to hold senior party’s position during the serving period.

SBTN: Làm chết 3 người chỉ bị án treo nhờ có công với cách mạng

======================

Defend the Defenders Marks Its 3rd Anniversary, Many Human Rights Advocates Attend

Defend the Defenders (DTD), a Vietnamese unsanctioned human rights organization, on Aug 1 held its third anniversary in Cat Ba Island in the northern province of Haiphong, with participation of dozens of human rights advocates nationwide.

Attending the event were Mr. Pham Ba Hai, the DTD’s founder and Mr. Vu Quoc Ngu, Mr. Ton Phi, members of the current leadership of the organization as well as members of other unregistered civil organizations namely the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam, the Brotherhood for Democracy, the Vietnam Women for Human Rights, and the Bau Bi Tuong Than.

The event was taken on the sidelines of a three-day cyber security training workshop co-organized by Defend the Defenders and the Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF or Reporters Without Borders) with participation of over 20 local activists in Cat Ba Island, one of the famous tourism site in the Southeast Asian nation.

Established by Mr. Hai, who is former political prisoner and human rights activist in 2012, DTD is one of the key human rights bodies in Vietnam. The organization has systematically reported and documented all human rights violations in Vietnam, both in Vietnamese and English language on its website www.vietnamhumanrightsdefenders.net.

It has members and partners in all regions in Vietnam. Especially, it has partnered with the Paris-based RSF and the New York-based non-governmental Amnesty International and closely coordinates with the Stockholm-based Civil Rights Defenders and other human rights bodies worldwide.

Vietnam Defend the Defenders Holds 3rd Anniversary

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UK Premier Pledges to Halt Trafficking of Vietnamese Children

The UK’s Premier David Cameron has promised to clamp down on the trafficking of Vietnamese children in the context of mounting number of trafficked adolescent workers from the Southeast Asian country in British businesses.

The PM made the statement on his visit to Hanoi on Wednesday [July 29] as he became the first British prime minister to visit the Southeast Asian country.

He said that Britain’s new anti-slavery commissioner, Kevin Hyland, would lead a fact-finding mission to Vietnam this autumn, the home of many of the estimated 13,000 human trafficking victims in Britain.

The affirmation was made following an increase in media reports of Vietnamese children being trafficked to grow cannabis or work in nail bars in the UK recent years.

“It is shocking that thousands of Vietnamese children in the UK are being used for profit by criminal gangs and that dozens more children are estimated to arrive on our shores every month,” Cameron said in a statement some day ago before leaving London for a Southeast Asian tour, including Vietnam.

British newswire Theguardian.com reported that he ordered big British companies to have measure to put an end on slavery and human trafficking in their supply chain.

The newswire announced on May 23 a report that as many as 3,000 Vietnamese children are in forced labor in the UK used for financial gain by criminal gangs running cannabis factories, nail bars, garment factories, brothels and private homes.

Upon the news, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked authorized agencies to verify the information.

In another move, Spokeswoman of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pham Thu Hang said in a statement July 29 that the government of Vietnam has adopted laws and taken drastic measures to prevent human trafficking and that remarks in the U.S. State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report 2015 onVietnam’s poor performance in human trafficking prevention is biased.

The report said that an NGO reported Vietnamese victims of forced criminal activity are transiting the UK en route to Ireland.

The report gives Vietnam a Tier 2 ranking, which indicates the Vietnamese government is not fully complying with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is trying to do so.

According to the report, Vietnamese girls and women are at risk of coercive or forced prostitution in many countries, such as Malaysia, China, South Korea, andThailand.

Meanwhile, women, girls, boys and men from Vietnam are subjected to forced labor in the construction, agricultural, forestry, manufacturing, and service sectors in the Czech Republic and also transit through the Czech Republic to other countries in Europe where they are exploited, the report showed.

SBTN: Thủ tướng Anh cam kết ngăn chặn nạn buôn người

**************2/8/2015************

22 Unregistered Vietnamese Civil Organizations Release Joint Statement to Protect Right of Assembly

As many as 22 unsanctioned Vietnamese civil organizations released a joint statement to reaffirm their indepencency and protect the right of assembly as well as demand Vietnam’s government to receive their opinions on the draft law of assembly.

The joint statement was made on the context that Vietnam’s government publicized its draft law of assembly and called on local residents to give opinions on the draft.

The unregistered civil organizations said that they will use the chance to give feedback to the government’s draft of the law on assembly which is very important for the nation as well as local non-government organizations.

Mrs. Huynh Thuc Vy, a coordinator of the Vietnamese Women for Human Rights informed that she represented the 22 bodies to send their joint statement to the Legal Committee of the National Assembly, the highest legislative body in the communist nation.

One copy of the joint statement was sent to the Government’s Office, she added.

HPNNQ: THÔNG CÁO BÁO CHÍ: Tuyên bố chung của các tổ chức XHDS độc lập Việt Nam về Dự thảo Luật về Hội

======================

More Fishing Boats in Quang Ngai Attacked by Chinese Ships

Two more fishing vessel of Quang Ngai province’s farmers has been attacked by Chinese ships which robbed all harvested fisheries and valuable equipment.

The fishing vessels coded QNg90127 and QNg 90349 were attacked by Chinese when they were in Vietnam’s waters in the East Sea.

Vietnamese fishermen estimated that they suffered losses of VND400 million ($20,000) by Chinese aggresive moves.

Along with building cement islands and military facilities in the East Sea, China has sent armed ships to harass Vietnamese fishing boats in a bid to turn the resource-rich sea into its own lake.

Vietnam’s government has encouraged local fishermen to go offshore fishing. However, Hanoi has yet to find measures to protect the local fishermen from China.

So far this year, China has attacked and robbed a number of Vietnamese fishing boats in the East Sea. One fisherman was killed and numerous others were severe injured by Chinese attacks.

SBTN: Tàu cá ngư dân Quảng Ngãi tiếp tục bị tàu Trung Cộng tấn công

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Defend the Defenders, Reporters Sans Frontieres Co-organize Cyber Security Training Workshop in Cat Ba Island

Defend the Defenders, on collaboration with the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF or Reporters Without Borders), on July 31-Aug 2 organized a cyber security training course for 23 human rights advocates nationwide.

The three-day event was held in Cat Ba Island in the northern port city of Haiphong. Ton Phi, a member of DTD, introduced a number of measures to deal with rising virus attacks and pro-government malwares against activists.

On the first meeting on afternoon of July 31, local policemen entered the class room in a hotel where the course was held, and demanded for suspension. However, the organizers and attendants protested, saying they did nothing wrong according to Vietnam’s law. Finally, the policemen withdrew.

However, Cat Ba district police, directed by Haiphong city police, ordered the hotel owner to cut internet connection as well as revoke the rented  class room in the third meeting, forcing the course organizers to move the meeting into living room.

Dozens of policemen, including numerous plainclothes ones, stationed in the hotel and around to closely monitor the meetings. Even they came to demand for administrative check during mid night, making great noise in the area.

Policemen also summoned the driver who had a contract to transport the participants from Hanoi to Cat Ba. Along with questioning him, police also held his driving license until the bus left Haiphong territory.

Despite Haiphong police’s harassments and threats, the course was completed as scheduled and all participants were very happy with the obtained knowledge on cyber security.

The participants returned to Hanoi safely under the close surveillance of Haiphong police.

Dân luận:Công an phá buổi họp mặt của Tổ chức Bảo Vệ Người Bảo Vệ Nhân Quyền