Saigon-based Activist Detained, Beaten due to Wearing T-shirt with Human Rights Logo

Mr. Nguyen Lam Hoang Bao few minutes before being detained on Aug 8, 2016

Mr. Nguyen Lam Hoang Bao few minutes before being detained on Aug 8, 2016

When Bao used his smart phone to film, traffic policemen got angry. They recognized the human rights logo in his T-shirt and called other police officers to arrest him.

By Vu Quoc Ngu, August 11, 2016

On August 8, Nguyen Lam Hoang Bao, an activist in Ho Chi Minh City, was detained and brutally beaten by local police for wearing a T-shirt with a human rights logo, the victim said.

In late evening of Monday, Bao, 23, was held by traffic policemen when he was riding his motorbike on street of Ward 3, District 6. Policemen stopped him for administrative checking and did not find violations committed by the activist.

When Bao used his smart phone to film, the traffic policemen got angry. They recognized the human rights logo on his t-shirt and called other police officers to arrest him.

Four friends of Bao came to support him and police officers violently took two of their smart phones.

Bao was brought to the police station in Ward 3 where he was beaten by uniform and plainclothes police officers. Police also confiscated his ID and one smart phone.

The activist was held in the police station until the noon of the next day. Police also returned his ID and phones.

Bao told the Defend the Defenders that he still feels pain in his head and face four days after the incident.

This is the third detention of Bao by the police in HCMC since February, and in two cases, he was beaten by police.

In February, he came to support land petitioners who gathered in a park in HCMC to protest the illegal seizure of their land by authorities in their localities. While trying to prevent the police from suppressing the land petitioners, he was knocked down by police officers and later detained for 14 hours in police custody.

In May-June, Bao attended a number of peaceful demonstrations in HCMC against the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant which caused the environmental catastrophe in the central region that killed hundreds of tons of fish in April-May. He was detained for 12 hours in police station without being tortured in June.

Vietnam’s government strives to prevent spontaneous demonstrations and orders the security forces to suppress, intimidate and persecute local political dissidents, social activists and human rights defenders.

Vietnam’s government has applied a number of controversial Penal Code articles such as 79, 87, 88, 89, and 258 to silence local political dissidents, social activists and human rights defenders. In addition, police arbitrarily detain and torture many activists or intimidate and assault them on streets.

In the first seven months in 2016, before and after the 12th National Congress of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam in late February, hundreds of activists were detained, beaten and suffered other kinds.

There were 17 cases in which dozens of Vietnamese activists were brutally beaten by police officers and plainclothes in police stations or on street between January 1 and July 18. Due to these attacks, many activists suffered from serious injuries and needed medical treatment and recovery.

In May-June, police in HCMC detained hundreds of anti-Formosa activists and kept them in a facility for holding drug addicts and sex workers for several days. Many of them complained that they were beaten or badly treated by police officers during detention.