Defend the Defenders | March 26, 2017
===== March 20 =====
Resident of Central Vietnam Severely Beaten for Recording Meeting with a Police Officer
Defend the Defenders: Van Duc Nguyen, a resident of Vietnam’s central province of Thua Thien-Hue was brutally beaten by a police officer who did not agree to being recorded by the victim during a working meeting between them in a local police station.
Mr. Nguyen reported that on March 13, he went to Phong Xuan communal police station in Phong Dien district to work with Tran Van Tin, head of the communal police. Nguyen used his cell phone to record the meeting.
Tin grabbed Nguyen’s cell phone and said he could not record the talks. Nguyen replied that there is no regulation forbidding recording meetings with state officials.
Tin was reported to have then attacked Nguyen immediately, hitting his his head against the table many times. After beating Nguyen, Tin pushed him out of the police chief’s office.
Nguyen called for help from other communal officials who came but did not offer any help for the resident.
Due to the assault, Nguyen sustained injuries, including to his face and head. He was later transferred to a district hospital by his relatives. Currently, Nguyen is treated at the Hue Central Hospital for a number of brain injuries.
Authorities in Phong Xuan commune admitted Tan’s attacks against Nguyen, offered an apology to the victim and suspended the perpetrator from his position of communal police chief.
Many Vietnamese have been tortured or ill-treated in police stations nationwide, especially in rural areas. Many victims have died or suffered serious injuries due to such assaults but few perpetrators have been disciplined adequately.
===== March 21 =====
Two Vietnamese Government Critics Charged with “Anti-State Propaganda,” Facing Long Sentences
Defend the Defenders: Two Vietnamese political dissidents, Vu Quang Thuan and Nguyen Van Dien, are said to have been charged with conducting “anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the country’s Penal Code. They face lengthy sentences if convicted according to the current Vietnamese law.
In the evening of March 2, the two were arrested by plainclothes agents at the apartment they share in Dong Da district in the capital city of Hanoi. While their friends suggested they may have been kidnapped, state media reported on the next day that they had been arrested by Hanoi’s police on allegations of spreading “harmful video clips” on Facebook.
The police investigation agency was said to have conducted a search in their apartment.
On March 13, the police informed the family of Mr. Dien that he had been charged with “anti-state propaganda.”
There is no information about the official charges against Mr. Thuan. Mr. Le Trong Hung, a member of the Chan hung Nuoc Viet (Reviving Vietnam campaign), of which the two detainees are also members, said Mr. Thuan is likely facing the same accusation.
According to the Vietnamese Penal Code, the two activists face imprisonment of between three and twenty years.
In recent months, the duo produced and posted on their Facebook pages tens of video clips in which Mr. Thuan as a speaker criticized the Communist leaders and their government for human rights violations, corruption, and weak response to China’s violations of the country’s sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea).
Late President Ho Chi Minh and incumbent General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong are among figures criticized by Mr. Thuan. Their clips were viewed by millions of Vietnamese Internet users.
This was the second arrest of Thuan within seven years. In 2011, he held a protest before the Vietnamese Embassy on Kuala Lumpur to demand that the Vietnamese Communist government release all prisoners of conscience and improve respect for fundamental freedoms, democracy and human rights. He had planned for a self-immolation at Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas towers but the plan did not succeed. He was arrested and extradited to Vietnam, where he was then detained. He was released two years later without being tried as the government considered he suffered from a mental condition.
Mr. Thuan and Mr. Dien are among the five activists Vietnam has arrested so far in 2017. Others are human rights activist Tran Thi Nga, former prisoner of conscience Nguyen Van Oai, and blogger Nguyen Van Hoa.
Land rights and labor rights activist Nga was charged with “anti-state propaganda” under Article 88, while pro-democracy activist Oai is accused of resisting on-duty state officials under Article 145. Blogger Hoa is accused of “abusing democratic freedoms” under Article 258.
According to Amnesty International, Vietnam is holding at least 112 prisoners of conscience. Hanoi has consistently denied this, saying it only detains persons who broke the law.
Mid-March, the U.S. released a report identifying the most significant human rights problems in Vietnam as severe government restrictions of citizens’ political rights, particularly their right to change their government through free and fair elections; limits on citizens’ civil liberties, including freedom of assembly, association, and expression; and inadequate protection of citizens’ due process rights, including protection against arbitrary detention.
Other human rights violations included arbitrary and unlawful deprivation of life; police attacks and corporal punishment; arbitrary arrest and detention for political activities; continued police mistreatment of suspects during arrest and detention, including the use of lethal force and austere prison conditions; and denial of the right to a fair and expeditious trial.
Late February, Amnesty International said in its annual report that severe restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, of association and of peaceful assembly continued in Vietnam in 2016-2017.
——————–
Vietnamese Blogger Arrested while Interviewing School Students about Child Sexual Abuse
Defend the Defenders: On March 21, police in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi arbitrarily detained Catholic blogger Nguyen Duc Hung when he conducted an interview in a local secondary school about child sex abuse, blogger Nam Phuong told Defend the Defenders.
Blogger Nam Phuong, who was in the same interviewing team as Mr. Hung, said that the principal of the Minh Khai secondary school,Thanh Nhan ward sent guards to hold them and call the local police as they asked students about molestation.
Ms. Nam Phuong said she escaped from the scene while Hung was detained by the police and released in the early morning the next day.
The Minh Khai secondary school is the place where a victim of abuse is studying. Under public pressure, Hanoi police launched a probe several months after the incident. Last week, police arrested a suspect, who is a former senior official of Vietcombank and a current official of Vietinbank. The suspect is a nephew of the chairman of the executive body People’s Committee of the northern province of Thai Binh.
Hung is the fourth activist to have been arrested for campaigning against child sex abuse. On March 16, authorities in Ho Chi Minh City detained three local activists who held a public demonstration to demand an investigation into a pedophile case in a local elementary school (you can see our report on the case here: /2017/03/16/three-activists-in-hcm-city-detained-after-holding-demonstration-to-demand-for-investigation-of-pedophile-case-in-local-elementary-school/)
Child sex abuse is a serious problem in Vietnam. On average, 1,000 Vietnamese children are victims of sexual assault every year, according to the Gender-based Violence Prevention Network in Vietnam (GBVNet), a network of 12 organizations working on gender and gender-based violence in the country.
The Ministry of Public Security said that the number of child abuse cases reported in 2014 hit 1,544, nearly doubling that of 2010.
Nguyen Van Anh, director of the Center for Studies and Applied Sciences in Gender, Family, Women, and Adolescents (CSAGA), attributed the rising – but low – figures to the authorities’ failure to live up to their law-enforcement responsibilities, compromise between the offenders and the victims, and under-reporting due to the fear of social stigma among victims.
Perpetrators were often people exercising authority over the children. They include teachers, school security guards, or relatives.
Meanwhile, Dang Hoa Nam, head of the Agency of Children Protection and Care under the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, said that child abuse cases tended to be covered-up by authorities.
He called for stronger public protest against molestation to protect the victims, and children in general.
———————
Gay men being left behind in Vietnam’s HIV fight
Gay Star News: Men who have sex with men (MSM) are at risk of being left behind in Vietnam’s efforts to reach ambitious HIV targets.
Vietnam became the first Asian country to adopt the targets for 90-90-90 targets in 2014. The targets are for 90% of people living with HIV to be diagnosed, 90% of people diagnosed with HIV to be on antiretroviral treatment, and 90% of people on treatment to have an undetectable viral load.
But a new study has revealed Vietnamese health services need to do a better job when it comes to MSM.
HIV rates have risen among MSM in Vietnam. About 16% of MSM in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are living with HIV.
MSM, female sex workers and injecting drug users are the groups in Vietnam where HIV is most concentrated.
HIV testing and uptake of treatment happened at a lower rate for MSM than the other two at risk groups.
Hanoi Medical University and the University of New South Wales joined forces to run the study into the experiences of MSM around the topic of HIV. The results will be published in the Culture, Health and Sexuality journal.
The shock of a positive diagnosis
Many of the participants had limited knowledge of HIV before their diagnosis and had not perceived themselves to be at risk.
The men said health services were reluctant to discuss same-sex relationships or HIV risks associated with specific sexual practices.
‘When I was informed of the HIV-positive result, I did not believe [it],’ one participant said.
‘I went to Hanoi to test again but the result stayed the same. So I was very confused about how I could be infected with HIV.’
The lack of knowledge and shock reaction to a diagnosis delayed the start of treatment.
‘The result was a tremendous shock,’ one man said.
‘I couldn’t think of anything and just wanted to go somewhere and do something for fun before ending my life… I did all kinds of things such as using marijuana, ecstasy and ice [crystal methamphetamine].’
Stigma and discrimination made men wary of disclosing their HIV status. Some participants had their confidentiality breached at HIV clinics and others were nervous about the identity documents they had to provide to register with a clinic.
‘After my ART (anti-retroviral treatment) initiation, the HIV clinic sent my identity information to the health station in my home town and the health station informed my mother of my HIV status,’ one participant said.
‘The clinic didn’t inform me that it will send my information back to my home town when asking me my identity information for registration.’
Vietnam and WHO
In 2015 Vietnam adopted World Health Organization guidelines recommending immediate HIV treatment for MSM and other key populations.
Researchers said there was little evidence the policy was actually being used.
Healthcare providers did not ask men about their sexual identity, which meant they were considered ineligible for immediate treatment. Some men were forced to visit several clinics or bribe clinicians in order to try to access ART.
The researchers called for better pre-test counseling, peer support and respect for confidentiality to help men accept an HIV-positive diagnosis and engage with treatment services.
The results also reinforce arguments that the 90-90-90 targets will be hard to achieve if ‘key populations’ are marginalized and discriminated against in healthcare settings.
===== March 22 =====
Two More Vietnamese Activists Arrested, Charged with “Anti-State Propaganda”
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam’s security forces have arrested two more activists who have been charged with conducting “anti-state propaganda” under the country’s Penal Code, state media reported.
According to the reports, on March 21 the Police Investigation Agency in the northern province of Thai Nguyen arrested Mr. Phan Kim Khanh, 24, who is a permanent resident of Yen Tap commune, Cam Khe district, Phu Tho province.
Four days earlier, the Police Investigation Agency in Ho Chi Minh City detained Mr. Bui Hieu Vo, 55, from Ward 3, Go Vap district.
Police are investigating the cases, newspapers said without elaborating on the detainees’ alleged activities.
Vietnam has used a number of controversial articles in the Penal Code, such as Articles 79, 88 and 258, to silent government critics. So far this year, the government has arrested five activists, namely Tran Thi Nga, Vu Quang Thuan, Nguyen Van Dien, Phan Kim Khanh and Bui Hieu Vo on allegations of conducting “anti-state propaganda” under Article 88, as well as Nguyen Van Hoa on allegations of “abusing democratic freedoms” under Article 258.
Human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai and his assistant Ms. Le Thu Ha, who were arrested in late 2015 on charges of “anti-state propaganda,” have not been brought to court.
According to Human Rights Watch, Vietnam is holding around 130 political prisoners, while Amnesty International said the Southeast Asian nation detains at least 112 prisoners of conscience. Hanoi consistently denies holding any political prisoners, as it says it only detains persons who broke the law.
——————–
Vietnamese Leading Dissident Detained before Appointment with Australian Ambassador – the Eight such Instance within 12 Months
Defend the Defenders: On March 22, security forces in Hanoi detained local prominent dissident Dr. Nguyen Quang A for hours in a bid to prevent him from meeting with Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Craig Chittick, the victim said.
The Hungary-educated PhD holder said he was invited by the ambassador to attend a farewell meeting for veteran diplomat Ms. Nadia Krivetz at 6:00pm on Wednesday at the embassy’s building in the capital city. However, when he left his private residence to go to the meeting at 5:25pm, he was stopped by a group of six police officers of the Hanoi Police Department.
The police officers forced him into a police car and drove around Hanoi. They suggested him go to Dong Van, around 40 km from the capital city to have a dinner but he refused. Later they came back to a beer outlet in Hanoi.
Dr. A said he used the time to explain how the Hanoi police violated his human rights by detaining him for hours.
The police released him at 10:00pm.
On his Facebook account, Dr. A publicly apologized to Australian diplomats for not being able to attend the meeting, strongly criticized the illegal acts of the Hanoi police, and demanded Minister of Public Security To Lam and Head of the Hanoi police Major General Doan Duy Khuong to put an end to such acts and respect the country’s Constitution, which enshrines freedom of movement.
This was the eight time Dr. A had been detained by the Hanoi police within the past 12 months. In May last year, he was kidnapped by Hanoi police officers to prevent him from going to a meeting between then visiting U.S. President Barack Obama and representatives of Vietnam’s civil society.
===== March 23 =====
CPJ Demands Vietnam to Release Two Bloggers Arrested Recently
Defend the Defenders: On March 23, the Committee to Protect Journalists called on Vietnam to immediately and unconditionally release bloggers Phan Kim Khanh and Bui Hieu Vo, who were recently arrested and charged with “anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of Vietnam’s Penal Code.
“We call on Vietnam to release bloggers Phan Kim Khanh and Bui Hieu Vo and to drop any charges against them,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative in an article posted on the committee’s website.
“If Vietnam wants to be considered a responsible member of the international community, it should stop treating journalists as criminals and punishing criticism as a crime against the state,” Mr. Crispin said.
The arrests of Mr. Khanh and Mr. Vo were made amid rising government pressure on social media platforms to censor content deemed as critical of the government, the CPJ said, adding the two bloggers are facing sentences of between seven and 20 years in prison under the Vietnamese current law.
Khanh was arrested on March 21 in the Cam Khe district of the northern province of Phu Tho, where he lives. The government statement said that Khanh had posted “fabricated and distorted” information against Vietnam on two blogs, three Facebook pages, and two YouTube channels.
Khanh established and managed two pro-democracy news websites, Vietnam Weekly and Anticorruption Newspaper, according to reports. Khanh was said to have posted allegations of official corruption on one of his blogs.
Vo, known as “Hieu Bui” on his Facebook page, was arrested on March 17 in the Go Vap district of Ho Chi Minh City. The government claimed that Vo had “fabricated [and] distorted […] information” against the government, and had incited violence against leaders of the ruling Communist Party, the state, and police.
The government statement also claimed both bloggers were affiliated with pro-democracy group Viet Tan, a U.S.-based political party the government considers a terrorist group.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s authorities have called on domestic and international companies with operations in the Southeast Asian nation to stop advertising on Facebook, YouTube, and other social media sites until they remove “toxic” information and criticism of the government published mainly by diaspora Vietnamese dissidents, according to state media.
Vietnam is among the world’s biggest enemies of the Internet. A number of online bloggers have been charged with controversial provisions such as Articles 79, 88 and 258 of the Penal Code.
Two bloggers detained for ‘propagandizing against the state’ in Vietnam
——————–
Pedophilia cases spark social media outcry in Vietnam
AFP: Vietnamese cops took three months to respond seriously to allegations that an eight-year-old girl had been molested, but then outrage spilled onto Facebook and they made an arrest in days — a rare win for public opinion in the communist country.
The girl was sexually abused by a family friend near her aunt’s house in Hanoi in January, but the complaint by her enraged mother fell on deaf ears.
That was until the news spun out onto social media with Facebookers demanding to know why pleas for legal action went unanswered.
Suddenly last week, a deputy prime minister called on police to take the case seriously and the suspect was arrested — offering a window into how the wheels of justice turn in Vietnam.
===== March 24 =====
Vietnam Cracks Down on Unsanctioned Hoa Hao, Cao Dai Religious Groups
Radio Free Asia: Authorities in Vietnam have cracked down on two unrecognized churches in recent days, according to worshippers who said they were harassed, forbidden from holding religious services and had assets seized by the state.
Secretary general of the Interfaith Council of Vietnam Le Quang Hien, who is a follower of Hoa Hao Buddhism, told RFA’s Vietnamese Service Friday that authorities had recently blocked his sect’s preparations to mark the March 22 anniversary of founder Huynh Phu So’s death.
“About 10 days before the anniversary, one person claiming to be police captain Viet of the An Giang provincial police told us that there was an order from above forbidding us to hold the ceremony,” Hien said.
“Additionally, on March 18, Ha Van Duy Ho [another follower] was told by the Nhon My village authorities to visit their office for a talk and ordered him not to organize a ceremony or else they would take measures against him.”
According to Hien, Hoa Hao followers voiced their frustration by holding a sit-in at their homes while holding banners that read, “Protest the order of Vietnam’s Communist Party.”
“Some followers still held a ceremony [on March 22 to mark the founder’s death] at their homes, but local authorities deployed security personnel to confiscate the banners they displayed,” Hien said.
Rights groups say that authorities in An Giang routinely harass followers of unapproved Hoa Hao groups, prohibiting public readings of Huynh Phu So’s writings and discouraging worshipers from visiting Hoa Hao pagodas in An Giang and other provinces.
Cao Dai church
Authorities also disrupted a group of unsanctioned Cao Dai adherents in Dong Thap province’s Tam Nong district in recent days and seized their church for use by an officially recognized sect of the religion, according to the building’s administrator Duong Ngoc Re.
Re told RFA that provincial and district authorities, as well as those from local Phu Thanh A village, ordered him to meet with them twice on March 16 and 19 to force his group to follow a sanctioned Cao Dai sect, but he refused.
Early on March 20, Re and two other followers saw a group of uniformed and plainclothes police officers cut the lock to the door of their church and begin taking items out of the building.
“I asked them, ‘These are our legal assets—why have you cut the lock and entered,” he said, noting that his community had built the church in 1952.
“I protested, but they went ahead with what they were doing.”
The following day, Re said, around 100 of his group’s adherents returned to the church to find it locked with a notice posted on the door claiming the building now belonged to the state-sanctioned sect.
Vietnam’s government officially recognizes the Hoa Hao and Cao Dai religions but imposes harsh controls on dissenting groups that do not follow state-sanctioned branches.
Just last month, several high-ranking members of the Interfaith Council of Vietnam were attacked by security officers on their way from Vietnam’s economic capital Ho Chi Minh City to the countryside to visit religious leaders of unsanctioned Hoa Hao and Cao Dai churches for the Tet Lunar New Year.
Two Cao Dai followers were also beaten and robbed by plainclothes police, a source told RFA at the time, adding that the authorities often hire thugs or plainclothes officers to beat and harass activists when they lack evidence to arrest them.
——————–
Vietnam Fails to Issue Sentence for Corruption Fighter due to Lacking Evidence
Defend the Defenders: A court in Vietnam’s Central Highlands province of Dak Nong was unable to issue a sentence for a 48-year-old whistleblower due to lack of evidence, state media reported last Friday.
The court spent two days reviewing testimonies and found that the indictment order had failed to include important information. Lack of evidence would harm the defendant’s rights to be protected, according to state media.
Tran Minh Loi, who is famous in Dak Nong and on social networks for fighting corruption and for being the owner of the “Diet giac noi xam” (Fighting against internal invaders) blog, stood accused of offering bribery worth VND 90 million ($ 3,956). If convicted, he faced between 13 and 20 years in prison.
Mr. Loi, who promoted the motto “Fighting corruption is not the responsibility of any single person,” was denounced a number of local officials and police officers involved in timber smuggling and making false accusations.
Speaking to the BBC on March 22 from Dak Nong, lawyer Pham Cong Ut, one of the six lawyers defending Mr. Loi at this hearing, said the trial drew in hundreds of local people, many of whom are grateful to Mr. Loi.
All six lawyers argued that Mr. Loi had been “unjustly charged” and that they would try to prove his innocence.
Mr. Ut added that state media coverage of this case only listed events as though he had been lawfully indicted.
Mr. Loi is famous for his efforts in combatting corruption and wrongdoings in his hometown but the media has been biased in covering news on the trial against him, his lawyer said.
Vietnam has the second highest rate of bribery among the 16 Asia Pacific countries with 65% of respondents reporting to have paid a bribe for public services, after India with 69%. Japan has the lowest rate, according to a report released by Transparency International early March.
In its recent report on Vietnam also released early March, the U.S. said “Corruption remained widespread throughout public-sector institutions, including police.”
===== March 25 =====
Detained Vietnamese Political Dissident Rejected to Have Lawyer
Defend the Defenders: On March 25, Hanoi-based human rights lawyer Ha Huy Son received a notice from the Hanoi Police Department which informed him that it had refused to provide him with a license to allow him to become a defending lawyer for arrested political dissident Nguyen Van Dien.
Lawyer Son was hired by Mr. Dien’s family after his detention to protect the activist.
Mr. Dien was arrested on March 2 together with Mr. Vu Quang Thuan and charged with conducting “anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code. He will be held in pre-trial detention for at least four months without being permitted to meet with his lawyers or relatives.
In political cases in Vietnam, authorities have kept the detainees incommunicado during the investigation period, which may be extended up to two years. Detainees are not allowed to meet with their lawyers or family members and they face the risk of being tortured or ill-treated.
====== March 26 ======
Security Forces Place Activists under House Arrest for Fourth Consecutive Weekend
Defend the Defenders: Authorities in many Vietnamese localities have continued to send plainclothes agents to the private residences of local activists to place them under de facto house arrest for the fourth consecutive weekend in a bid to prevent them from gathering to protest the polluting Formosa plant.
Many activists said police officers were stationed around their houses from the late evening of Saturday until Sunday afternoon as former political prisoner Catholic priest Nguyen Van Ly continued to call for nation-wide demonstrations to demand Taiwanese company Formosa to withdraw its projects from Vietnam and to pay compensation to the people affected by last year’s environmental disaster and clean the maritime environment in the central coast.
Due to the police move, many activists complained that they could not leave their house to travel during Sunday, even to exercise.
Vietnam’s Communist government has tried to prevent public demonstrations on matters of public concern, including the environmental catastrophe caused by the Ha Tinh province-based Formosa Steel Plant, which in 2016 discharged a huge amount of toxic industrial waste into Vietnam’s central coast waters and caused massive deaths of fisheries.
Formosa Plastic Group agreed to pay a compensation of $500 million to the affected fishermen; however, the sum is very small for settling the consequences of the catastrophe it caused, said environmentalists.
Earlier this week, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said Vietnam needed billions of U.S. dollars to clean the central coast.
===== end =====
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March 27, 2017
Vietnam Human Rights Defenders’ Weekly March 20-26, 2017: Two More Activists Arrested and Charged with “Anti-State Propaganda”
by Nhan Quyen • DEFENDER’S WEEKLY
Defend the Defenders | March 26, 2017
Bloggers Phan Kim Khanh and Bui Hieu Vo have become the next activists to be arrested and charged with “anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of Vietnam’s Penal Code. Mr. Khanh was arrested on March 21 and Mr. Vo, four days earlier.
Mr. Khanh was said to have posted “fabricated and distorted” information against Vietnam on two blogs, three Facebook pages and two YouTube channels, while Vo was accused of having “fabricated and distorted” […] information” against the government, including incitement to commit violence against leaders of the ruling Communist Party, the state, and the police. Both have been said to be linked with the U.S.-based Viet Tan, a pro-democracy organization which has been listed by Vietnam’s government as a terrorist group.
On March 23, the Committee to Protect Journalists called on Vietnam to immediately and unconditionally release bloggers Phan Kim Khanh and Bui Hieu Vo and to drop all charges against them. The organization said: “If Vietnam wants to be considered a responsible member of the international community, it should stop treating journalists as criminals and punishing criticism as a crime against the state.”
So far this year, Vietnam has arrested five activists, namely Tran Thi Nga, Vu Quang Thuan, Nguyen Van Dien, Phan Kim Khanh and Bui Hieu Vo on allegations of conducting “anti-state propaganda” under Article 88, while pro-democracy activist Nguyen Van Oai is accused of resisting on-duty state officials under Article 145 and blogger Hoa is accused of “abusing democratic freedoms” under Article 258 of the Penal Code.
Political dissident Nguyen Van Dien, who was detained on March 2, was denied a lawyer as the Hanoi Police Department refused to grant a license for lawyer Ha Huy Son to represent him. Mr. Dien will be held incommunicado during the pre-trial detention period, which will last at least four months.
Mr. Vu Quang Thuan, who was arrested in the same case on the same day, is likely to be charged under the same provision. Due to police pressure, his family has not wished to be in contact with other activists or inform them about his situation.
On March 22, prominent political dissident Dr. Nguyen Quang A was detained for hours by Hanoi security officers who were assigned to prevent him from participating in a meeting at the Australian Embassy in Vietnam. This is the eight time he has been blocked from meeting with foreign diplomats within the last 12 months, including the meeting in May between then U.S. President Barack Obama and representatives of civil society during the first and only visit of the American leader to the Southeast Asian nation.
Authorities in many Vietnamese localities have continued to send plainclothes agents to the private residences of local activists to place them under de facto house arrest for the fourth consecutive weekend in a bid to prevent them from gathering to protest the pollution caused by the Formosa company.
And other news
===== March 20 =====
Resident of Central Vietnam Severely Beaten for Recording Meeting with a Police Officer
Defend the Defenders: Van Duc Nguyen, a resident of Vietnam’s central province of Thua Thien-Hue was brutally beaten by a police officer who did not agree to being recorded by the victim during a working meeting between them in a local police station.
Mr. Nguyen reported that on March 13, he went to Phong Xuan communal police station in Phong Dien district to work with Tran Van Tin, head of the communal police. Nguyen used his cell phone to record the meeting.
Tin grabbed Nguyen’s cell phone and said he could not record the talks. Nguyen replied that there is no regulation forbidding recording meetings with state officials.
Tin was reported to have then attacked Nguyen immediately, hitting his his head against the table many times. After beating Nguyen, Tin pushed him out of the police chief’s office.
Nguyen called for help from other communal officials who came but did not offer any help for the resident.
Due to the assault, Nguyen sustained injuries, including to his face and head. He was later transferred to a district hospital by his relatives. Currently, Nguyen is treated at the Hue Central Hospital for a number of brain injuries.
Authorities in Phong Xuan commune admitted Tan’s attacks against Nguyen, offered an apology to the victim and suspended the perpetrator from his position of communal police chief.
Many Vietnamese have been tortured or ill-treated in police stations nationwide, especially in rural areas. Many victims have died or suffered serious injuries due to such assaults but few perpetrators have been disciplined adequately.
===== March 21 =====
Two Vietnamese Government Critics Charged with “Anti-State Propaganda,” Facing Long Sentences
Defend the Defenders: Two Vietnamese political dissidents, Vu Quang Thuan and Nguyen Van Dien, are said to have been charged with conducting “anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the country’s Penal Code. They face lengthy sentences if convicted according to the current Vietnamese law.
In the evening of March 2, the two were arrested by plainclothes agents at the apartment they share in Dong Da district in the capital city of Hanoi. While their friends suggested they may have been kidnapped, state media reported on the next day that they had been arrested by Hanoi’s police on allegations of spreading “harmful video clips” on Facebook.
The police investigation agency was said to have conducted a search in their apartment.
On March 13, the police informed the family of Mr. Dien that he had been charged with “anti-state propaganda.”
There is no information about the official charges against Mr. Thuan. Mr. Le Trong Hung, a member of the Chan hung Nuoc Viet (Reviving Vietnam campaign), of which the two detainees are also members, said Mr. Thuan is likely facing the same accusation.
According to the Vietnamese Penal Code, the two activists face imprisonment of between three and twenty years.
In recent months, the duo produced and posted on their Facebook pages tens of video clips in which Mr. Thuan as a speaker criticized the Communist leaders and their government for human rights violations, corruption, and weak response to China’s violations of the country’s sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea).
Late President Ho Chi Minh and incumbent General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong are among figures criticized by Mr. Thuan. Their clips were viewed by millions of Vietnamese Internet users.
This was the second arrest of Thuan within seven years. In 2011, he held a protest before the Vietnamese Embassy on Kuala Lumpur to demand that the Vietnamese Communist government release all prisoners of conscience and improve respect for fundamental freedoms, democracy and human rights. He had planned for a self-immolation at Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas towers but the plan did not succeed. He was arrested and extradited to Vietnam, where he was then detained. He was released two years later without being tried as the government considered he suffered from a mental condition.
Mr. Thuan and Mr. Dien are among the five activists Vietnam has arrested so far in 2017. Others are human rights activist Tran Thi Nga, former prisoner of conscience Nguyen Van Oai, and blogger Nguyen Van Hoa.
Land rights and labor rights activist Nga was charged with “anti-state propaganda” under Article 88, while pro-democracy activist Oai is accused of resisting on-duty state officials under Article 145. Blogger Hoa is accused of “abusing democratic freedoms” under Article 258.
According to Amnesty International, Vietnam is holding at least 112 prisoners of conscience. Hanoi has consistently denied this, saying it only detains persons who broke the law.
Mid-March, the U.S. released a report identifying the most significant human rights problems in Vietnam as severe government restrictions of citizens’ political rights, particularly their right to change their government through free and fair elections; limits on citizens’ civil liberties, including freedom of assembly, association, and expression; and inadequate protection of citizens’ due process rights, including protection against arbitrary detention.
Other human rights violations included arbitrary and unlawful deprivation of life; police attacks and corporal punishment; arbitrary arrest and detention for political activities; continued police mistreatment of suspects during arrest and detention, including the use of lethal force and austere prison conditions; and denial of the right to a fair and expeditious trial.
Late February, Amnesty International said in its annual report that severe restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, of association and of peaceful assembly continued in Vietnam in 2016-2017.
——————–
Vietnamese Blogger Arrested while Interviewing School Students about Child Sexual Abuse
Defend the Defenders: On March 21, police in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi arbitrarily detained Catholic blogger Nguyen Duc Hung when he conducted an interview in a local secondary school about child sex abuse, blogger Nam Phuong told Defend the Defenders.
Blogger Nam Phuong, who was in the same interviewing team as Mr. Hung, said that the principal of the Minh Khai secondary school,Thanh Nhan ward sent guards to hold them and call the local police as they asked students about molestation.
Ms. Nam Phuong said she escaped from the scene while Hung was detained by the police and released in the early morning the next day.
The Minh Khai secondary school is the place where a victim of abuse is studying. Under public pressure, Hanoi police launched a probe several months after the incident. Last week, police arrested a suspect, who is a former senior official of Vietcombank and a current official of Vietinbank. The suspect is a nephew of the chairman of the executive body People’s Committee of the northern province of Thai Binh.
Hung is the fourth activist to have been arrested for campaigning against child sex abuse. On March 16, authorities in Ho Chi Minh City detained three local activists who held a public demonstration to demand an investigation into a pedophile case in a local elementary school (you can see our report on the case here: /2017/03/16/three-activists-in-hcm-city-detained-after-holding-demonstration-to-demand-for-investigation-of-pedophile-case-in-local-elementary-school/)
Child sex abuse is a serious problem in Vietnam. On average, 1,000 Vietnamese children are victims of sexual assault every year, according to the Gender-based Violence Prevention Network in Vietnam (GBVNet), a network of 12 organizations working on gender and gender-based violence in the country.
The Ministry of Public Security said that the number of child abuse cases reported in 2014 hit 1,544, nearly doubling that of 2010.
Nguyen Van Anh, director of the Center for Studies and Applied Sciences in Gender, Family, Women, and Adolescents (CSAGA), attributed the rising – but low – figures to the authorities’ failure to live up to their law-enforcement responsibilities, compromise between the offenders and the victims, and under-reporting due to the fear of social stigma among victims.
Perpetrators were often people exercising authority over the children. They include teachers, school security guards, or relatives.
Meanwhile, Dang Hoa Nam, head of the Agency of Children Protection and Care under the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, said that child abuse cases tended to be covered-up by authorities.
He called for stronger public protest against molestation to protect the victims, and children in general.
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Gay men being left behind in Vietnam’s HIV fight
Gay Star News: Men who have sex with men (MSM) are at risk of being left behind in Vietnam’s efforts to reach ambitious HIV targets.
Vietnam became the first Asian country to adopt the targets for 90-90-90 targets in 2014. The targets are for 90% of people living with HIV to be diagnosed, 90% of people diagnosed with HIV to be on antiretroviral treatment, and 90% of people on treatment to have an undetectable viral load.
But a new study has revealed Vietnamese health services need to do a better job when it comes to MSM.
HIV rates have risen among MSM in Vietnam. About 16% of MSM in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are living with HIV.
MSM, female sex workers and injecting drug users are the groups in Vietnam where HIV is most concentrated.
HIV testing and uptake of treatment happened at a lower rate for MSM than the other two at risk groups.
Hanoi Medical University and the University of New South Wales joined forces to run the study into the experiences of MSM around the topic of HIV. The results will be published in the Culture, Health and Sexuality journal.
The shock of a positive diagnosis
Many of the participants had limited knowledge of HIV before their diagnosis and had not perceived themselves to be at risk.
The men said health services were reluctant to discuss same-sex relationships or HIV risks associated with specific sexual practices.
‘When I was informed of the HIV-positive result, I did not believe [it],’ one participant said.
‘I went to Hanoi to test again but the result stayed the same. So I was very confused about how I could be infected with HIV.’
The lack of knowledge and shock reaction to a diagnosis delayed the start of treatment.
‘The result was a tremendous shock,’ one man said.
‘I couldn’t think of anything and just wanted to go somewhere and do something for fun before ending my life… I did all kinds of things such as using marijuana, ecstasy and ice [crystal methamphetamine].’
Stigma and discrimination made men wary of disclosing their HIV status. Some participants had their confidentiality breached at HIV clinics and others were nervous about the identity documents they had to provide to register with a clinic.
‘After my ART (anti-retroviral treatment) initiation, the HIV clinic sent my identity information to the health station in my home town and the health station informed my mother of my HIV status,’ one participant said.
‘The clinic didn’t inform me that it will send my information back to my home town when asking me my identity information for registration.’
Vietnam and WHO
In 2015 Vietnam adopted World Health Organization guidelines recommending immediate HIV treatment for MSM and other key populations.
Researchers said there was little evidence the policy was actually being used.
Healthcare providers did not ask men about their sexual identity, which meant they were considered ineligible for immediate treatment. Some men were forced to visit several clinics or bribe clinicians in order to try to access ART.
The researchers called for better pre-test counseling, peer support and respect for confidentiality to help men accept an HIV-positive diagnosis and engage with treatment services.
The results also reinforce arguments that the 90-90-90 targets will be hard to achieve if ‘key populations’ are marginalized and discriminated against in healthcare settings.
===== March 22 =====
Two More Vietnamese Activists Arrested, Charged with “Anti-State Propaganda”
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam’s security forces have arrested two more activists who have been charged with conducting “anti-state propaganda” under the country’s Penal Code, state media reported.
According to the reports, on March 21 the Police Investigation Agency in the northern province of Thai Nguyen arrested Mr. Phan Kim Khanh, 24, who is a permanent resident of Yen Tap commune, Cam Khe district, Phu Tho province.
Four days earlier, the Police Investigation Agency in Ho Chi Minh City detained Mr. Bui Hieu Vo, 55, from Ward 3, Go Vap district.
Police are investigating the cases, newspapers said without elaborating on the detainees’ alleged activities.
Vietnam has used a number of controversial articles in the Penal Code, such as Articles 79, 88 and 258, to silent government critics. So far this year, the government has arrested five activists, namely Tran Thi Nga, Vu Quang Thuan, Nguyen Van Dien, Phan Kim Khanh and Bui Hieu Vo on allegations of conducting “anti-state propaganda” under Article 88, as well as Nguyen Van Hoa on allegations of “abusing democratic freedoms” under Article 258.
Human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai and his assistant Ms. Le Thu Ha, who were arrested in late 2015 on charges of “anti-state propaganda,” have not been brought to court.
According to Human Rights Watch, Vietnam is holding around 130 political prisoners, while Amnesty International said the Southeast Asian nation detains at least 112 prisoners of conscience. Hanoi consistently denies holding any political prisoners, as it says it only detains persons who broke the law.
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Vietnamese Leading Dissident Detained before Appointment with Australian Ambassador – the Eight such Instance within 12 Months
Defend the Defenders: On March 22, security forces in Hanoi detained local prominent dissident Dr. Nguyen Quang A for hours in a bid to prevent him from meeting with Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Craig Chittick, the victim said.
The Hungary-educated PhD holder said he was invited by the ambassador to attend a farewell meeting for veteran diplomat Ms. Nadia Krivetz at 6:00pm on Wednesday at the embassy’s building in the capital city. However, when he left his private residence to go to the meeting at 5:25pm, he was stopped by a group of six police officers of the Hanoi Police Department.
The police officers forced him into a police car and drove around Hanoi. They suggested him go to Dong Van, around 40 km from the capital city to have a dinner but he refused. Later they came back to a beer outlet in Hanoi.
Dr. A said he used the time to explain how the Hanoi police violated his human rights by detaining him for hours.
The police released him at 10:00pm.
On his Facebook account, Dr. A publicly apologized to Australian diplomats for not being able to attend the meeting, strongly criticized the illegal acts of the Hanoi police, and demanded Minister of Public Security To Lam and Head of the Hanoi police Major General Doan Duy Khuong to put an end to such acts and respect the country’s Constitution, which enshrines freedom of movement.
This was the eight time Dr. A had been detained by the Hanoi police within the past 12 months. In May last year, he was kidnapped by Hanoi police officers to prevent him from going to a meeting between then visiting U.S. President Barack Obama and representatives of Vietnam’s civil society.
===== March 23 =====
CPJ Demands Vietnam to Release Two Bloggers Arrested Recently
Defend the Defenders: On March 23, the Committee to Protect Journalists called on Vietnam to immediately and unconditionally release bloggers Phan Kim Khanh and Bui Hieu Vo, who were recently arrested and charged with “anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of Vietnam’s Penal Code.
“We call on Vietnam to release bloggers Phan Kim Khanh and Bui Hieu Vo and to drop any charges against them,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative in an article posted on the committee’s website.
“If Vietnam wants to be considered a responsible member of the international community, it should stop treating journalists as criminals and punishing criticism as a crime against the state,” Mr. Crispin said.
The arrests of Mr. Khanh and Mr. Vo were made amid rising government pressure on social media platforms to censor content deemed as critical of the government, the CPJ said, adding the two bloggers are facing sentences of between seven and 20 years in prison under the Vietnamese current law.
Khanh was arrested on March 21 in the Cam Khe district of the northern province of Phu Tho, where he lives. The government statement said that Khanh had posted “fabricated and distorted” information against Vietnam on two blogs, three Facebook pages, and two YouTube channels.
Khanh established and managed two pro-democracy news websites, Vietnam Weekly and Anticorruption Newspaper, according to reports. Khanh was said to have posted allegations of official corruption on one of his blogs.
Vo, known as “Hieu Bui” on his Facebook page, was arrested on March 17 in the Go Vap district of Ho Chi Minh City. The government claimed that Vo had “fabricated [and] distorted […] information” against the government, and had incited violence against leaders of the ruling Communist Party, the state, and police.
The government statement also claimed both bloggers were affiliated with pro-democracy group Viet Tan, a U.S.-based political party the government considers a terrorist group.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s authorities have called on domestic and international companies with operations in the Southeast Asian nation to stop advertising on Facebook, YouTube, and other social media sites until they remove “toxic” information and criticism of the government published mainly by diaspora Vietnamese dissidents, according to state media.
Vietnam is among the world’s biggest enemies of the Internet. A number of online bloggers have been charged with controversial provisions such as Articles 79, 88 and 258 of the Penal Code.
Two bloggers detained for ‘propagandizing against the state’ in Vietnam
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Pedophilia cases spark social media outcry in Vietnam
AFP: Vietnamese cops took three months to respond seriously to allegations that an eight-year-old girl had been molested, but then outrage spilled onto Facebook and they made an arrest in days — a rare win for public opinion in the communist country.
The girl was sexually abused by a family friend near her aunt’s house in Hanoi in January, but the complaint by her enraged mother fell on deaf ears.
That was until the news spun out onto social media with Facebookers demanding to know why pleas for legal action went unanswered.
Suddenly last week, a deputy prime minister called on police to take the case seriously and the suspect was arrested — offering a window into how the wheels of justice turn in Vietnam.
For full article: Pedophilia cases spark social media outcry in Vietnam
===== March 24 =====
Vietnam Cracks Down on Unsanctioned Hoa Hao, Cao Dai Religious Groups
Radio Free Asia: Authorities in Vietnam have cracked down on two unrecognized churches in recent days, according to worshippers who said they were harassed, forbidden from holding religious services and had assets seized by the state.
Secretary general of the Interfaith Council of Vietnam Le Quang Hien, who is a follower of Hoa Hao Buddhism, told RFA’s Vietnamese Service Friday that authorities had recently blocked his sect’s preparations to mark the March 22 anniversary of founder Huynh Phu So’s death.
“About 10 days before the anniversary, one person claiming to be police captain Viet of the An Giang provincial police told us that there was an order from above forbidding us to hold the ceremony,” Hien said.
“Additionally, on March 18, Ha Van Duy Ho [another follower] was told by the Nhon My village authorities to visit their office for a talk and ordered him not to organize a ceremony or else they would take measures against him.”
According to Hien, Hoa Hao followers voiced their frustration by holding a sit-in at their homes while holding banners that read, “Protest the order of Vietnam’s Communist Party.”
“Some followers still held a ceremony [on March 22 to mark the founder’s death] at their homes, but local authorities deployed security personnel to confiscate the banners they displayed,” Hien said.
Rights groups say that authorities in An Giang routinely harass followers of unapproved Hoa Hao groups, prohibiting public readings of Huynh Phu So’s writings and discouraging worshipers from visiting Hoa Hao pagodas in An Giang and other provinces.
Cao Dai church
Authorities also disrupted a group of unsanctioned Cao Dai adherents in Dong Thap province’s Tam Nong district in recent days and seized their church for use by an officially recognized sect of the religion, according to the building’s administrator Duong Ngoc Re.
Re told RFA that provincial and district authorities, as well as those from local Phu Thanh A village, ordered him to meet with them twice on March 16 and 19 to force his group to follow a sanctioned Cao Dai sect, but he refused.
Early on March 20, Re and two other followers saw a group of uniformed and plainclothes police officers cut the lock to the door of their church and begin taking items out of the building.
“I asked them, ‘These are our legal assets—why have you cut the lock and entered,” he said, noting that his community had built the church in 1952.
“I protested, but they went ahead with what they were doing.”
The following day, Re said, around 100 of his group’s adherents returned to the church to find it locked with a notice posted on the door claiming the building now belonged to the state-sanctioned sect.
Vietnam’s government officially recognizes the Hoa Hao and Cao Dai religions but imposes harsh controls on dissenting groups that do not follow state-sanctioned branches.
Just last month, several high-ranking members of the Interfaith Council of Vietnam were attacked by security officers on their way from Vietnam’s economic capital Ho Chi Minh City to the countryside to visit religious leaders of unsanctioned Hoa Hao and Cao Dai churches for the Tet Lunar New Year.
Two Cao Dai followers were also beaten and robbed by plainclothes police, a source told RFA at the time, adding that the authorities often hire thugs or plainclothes officers to beat and harass activists when they lack evidence to arrest them.
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Vietnam Fails to Issue Sentence for Corruption Fighter due to Lacking Evidence
Defend the Defenders: A court in Vietnam’s Central Highlands province of Dak Nong was unable to issue a sentence for a 48-year-old whistleblower due to lack of evidence, state media reported last Friday.
The court spent two days reviewing testimonies and found that the indictment order had failed to include important information. Lack of evidence would harm the defendant’s rights to be protected, according to state media.
Tran Minh Loi, who is famous in Dak Nong and on social networks for fighting corruption and for being the owner of the “Diet giac noi xam” (Fighting against internal invaders) blog, stood accused of offering bribery worth VND 90 million ($ 3,956). If convicted, he faced between 13 and 20 years in prison.
Mr. Loi, who promoted the motto “Fighting corruption is not the responsibility of any single person,” was denounced a number of local officials and police officers involved in timber smuggling and making false accusations.
Speaking to the BBC on March 22 from Dak Nong, lawyer Pham Cong Ut, one of the six lawyers defending Mr. Loi at this hearing, said the trial drew in hundreds of local people, many of whom are grateful to Mr. Loi.
All six lawyers argued that Mr. Loi had been “unjustly charged” and that they would try to prove his innocence.
Mr. Ut added that state media coverage of this case only listed events as though he had been lawfully indicted.
Mr. Loi is famous for his efforts in combatting corruption and wrongdoings in his hometown but the media has been biased in covering news on the trial against him, his lawyer said.
Vietnam has the second highest rate of bribery among the 16 Asia Pacific countries with 65% of respondents reporting to have paid a bribe for public services, after India with 69%. Japan has the lowest rate, according to a report released by Transparency International early March.
In its recent report on Vietnam also released early March, the U.S. said “Corruption remained widespread throughout public-sector institutions, including police.”
===== March 25 =====
Detained Vietnamese Political Dissident Rejected to Have Lawyer
Defend the Defenders: On March 25, Hanoi-based human rights lawyer Ha Huy Son received a notice from the Hanoi Police Department which informed him that it had refused to provide him with a license to allow him to become a defending lawyer for arrested political dissident Nguyen Van Dien.
Lawyer Son was hired by Mr. Dien’s family after his detention to protect the activist.
Mr. Dien was arrested on March 2 together with Mr. Vu Quang Thuan and charged with conducting “anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code. He will be held in pre-trial detention for at least four months without being permitted to meet with his lawyers or relatives.
In political cases in Vietnam, authorities have kept the detainees incommunicado during the investigation period, which may be extended up to two years. Detainees are not allowed to meet with their lawyers or family members and they face the risk of being tortured or ill-treated.
====== March 26 ======
Security Forces Place Activists under House Arrest for Fourth Consecutive Weekend
Defend the Defenders: Authorities in many Vietnamese localities have continued to send plainclothes agents to the private residences of local activists to place them under de facto house arrest for the fourth consecutive weekend in a bid to prevent them from gathering to protest the polluting Formosa plant.
Many activists said police officers were stationed around their houses from the late evening of Saturday until Sunday afternoon as former political prisoner Catholic priest Nguyen Van Ly continued to call for nation-wide demonstrations to demand Taiwanese company Formosa to withdraw its projects from Vietnam and to pay compensation to the people affected by last year’s environmental disaster and clean the maritime environment in the central coast.
Due to the police move, many activists complained that they could not leave their house to travel during Sunday, even to exercise.
Vietnam’s Communist government has tried to prevent public demonstrations on matters of public concern, including the environmental catastrophe caused by the Ha Tinh province-based Formosa Steel Plant, which in 2016 discharged a huge amount of toxic industrial waste into Vietnam’s central coast waters and caused massive deaths of fisheries.
Formosa Plastic Group agreed to pay a compensation of $500 million to the affected fishermen; however, the sum is very small for settling the consequences of the catastrophe it caused, said environmentalists.
Earlier this week, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said Vietnam needed billions of U.S. dollars to clean the central coast.
===== end =====