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Press Release
Human Rights Watch October 9, 2002
For more information, please contact:
In New York, Brad Adams +
1-212-216-1228
In Washington, Mike Jendrzejczyk: +1-202-612-4341
In London, Steve Crawshaw: +44-20-7713-2766
In Brussels, Jean-Paul Marthoz: +322-732-2009
Human Rights Watch, 350 Fifth Ave., 34th Floor, New York NY 10018-3299, U.S.A.,
tel: +1 212 290 4700, fax: +1 212 736 1300, e-mail:
hrwnyc@hrw.org
Human Rights Watch, 1522 K Street, N.W., Washington D.C. 20005-1202, U.S.A., tel:
+1 202 371 6592, fax: +1 202 371 0124, e-mail:
hrwdc@hrw.org
Internet: http://www.hrw.org/
For Immediate Release
Vietnam: New Threats to
Free Expression
New York - A new round of arrests and harassment of prominent dissidents in
Vietnam threatens the right of free expression, Human Rights Watch said today.
Vietnam should cease the persecution of government critics and release all those
who are in custody or under house arrest for non-violent expression of their
beliefs.
"Despite Vietnam's promises to speed up the process of reform, the government is
still stifling free expression," said Mike Jendrzejczyk, Washington director of
the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch. "It's very important that international
donors raise these issues with the Vietnamese government."
Human Rights Watch urged Vietnam's donors to refer specifically to several
recent incidents of government critics being detained or harassed.
On September 20, 2002, public security officials raided the Ho Chi Minh City
home of Dr. Nguyen Dan Que, a leading peaceful advocate of human rights and
democratic reform. They ransacked his home, examined his writings and papers,
and pressured him for more than four hours to leave with the police for further
questioning. Dr. Que refused to leave when the police could not produce a court
order for his arrest. Ten security officials were subsequently stationed outside
his home.
In Hanoi on September 25, police arrested former journalist and writer Nguyen Vu
Binh after searching his home. The fact that Nguyen's arrest warrant was issued
by the prosecutor means that under Vietnamese law he likely will be tried within
a matter of weeks, if not days. His whereabouts, and the charges against him,
are unknown. Nguyen Vu Binh has written articles calling for political reform
and criticizing government policy.
Binh was earlier detained on July 20, 2002, when he was brought in for several
days of questioning by the Public Security Ministry, after he signed a group
petition to the government and sent written testimony about human rights
violations in Vietnam to a briefing sponsored by the Congressional Human Rights
Caucus in Washington, D.C.
Police officials have also sent the dossiers of three other dissidents arrested
this year--Le Chi Quang, Pham Hong Son and Nguyen Khac Toan--to the prosecutor,
which means they could be brought to trial soon. Meanwhile, outspoken government
critic Pham Que Duong has come under continuous harassment for the last two
weeks, including videotaped interrogation sessions by the police.
"We fear that these dissidents could be brought to trial any day now," said
Jendrzejczyk, who noted that trials in Vietnam often fall short of international
standards for fairness.
On July 6, 17 prominent dissidents--including Nguyen Vu Binh and Pham Que
Duong--sent a public petition to the government calling for democratic reforms,
establishment of an anti-corruption body, and publication of Vietnam's border
treaties with China. Many of the same dissidents had been detained for
questioning in September 2001 after submitting a written application to the
government for the creation of an anti-corruption association.
Several dissidents have been arrested, harassed or placed under house arrest
this year after issuing public critiques of the government, some of which were
circulated on the Internet. They include:
- On January 8, former army officer Nguyen Khac Toan, 46, was arrested, a day
after meeting prominent dissident Nguyen Thanh Giang.
- On February 21, Le Chi Quang, 32, a young lawyer whose essay "Beware of
Imperialist China" was distributed on the Internet, was arrested at an Internet
café in Hanoi. His house was searched and documents confiscated.
- On March 8, police searched the home of scholar and anti-corruption activist
Tran Van Khue, 66, confiscating his computer and some documents, after he
published a critical letter to Chinese President Jiang Zemin, which was
circulated on the Internet before Jiang's visit to Vietnam. On March 10, Tran
Van Khue was arrested and placed under two years' administrative detention
without trial under Directive 31/CP.
- On March 27, police arrested Pham Hong Son, 34, after he translated an article
from the website of the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam, titled "What is Democracy," and
sent it to his friends and senior Vietnamese officials. In addition, he had
written an open letter, which was published on the Internet, protesting the fact
that his house had been searched and his computer and documents confiscated.
Please see
http://hrw.org/press/2002/10/vietltr-1004.htm to view a Human Rights Watch
letter to Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luo regarding the cases of Mr. Nguyen Vu
Binh and Dr. Nguyen Dan Que.
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