Pham Doan Trang’s lawyer was finally given a chance to meet his client after close to a year of pretrial detention. He confirmed the acclaimed journalist is troubled by health issues. A former political prisoner said that “extreme stress and depression can cause a host of medical issues.”
Detained Vietnamese activist author Pham Doan Trang is in poor health after a year of pretrial detention, her lawyer said this week after meeting Trang for the first time since her arrest.
Pham Doan Trang was arrested in Ho Chi Minh City in October 2020 and charged under article 117 of the Vietnamese Penal Code, accused of “making, storing, distributing, or disseminating information, documents and items against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
With a trial date set for Nov. 4, one of the lawyers, Le Van Luan, was finally able to meet with Trang on Tuesday, and said in a Facebook post that Trang had lost 10 kilograms (22 pounds) over the past year.
In addition, her legs were in pain due to the changing weather’s effects on her knees, which were broken in an attack she suffered in 2015.
She also suffers from ovarian cysts and menorrhagia, a condition which has caused her periods to last as long as 15 days. The long periods and her low blood pressure have resulted in constant fatigue, Luan said, but she has not had proper medical checkups or treatment over the past year.
A former prisoner of conscience told RFA’s Vietnamese Service that Trang’s health issues might be related to living in constant stress for long periods.
Nghien said that most detention centers have clinics, but it is difficult for political prisoners to access medical exams and treatment.
“The pre-trial detention is the most stressful time because detainees have to deal with the interrogation and aren’t allowed to see their families. Those who are detained for political reasons are not even allowed to see their lawyers,” she said.
Trang, who authored a book on political engagement that angered authorities in Hanoi, was a cofounder of Legal Initiatives for Vietnam, a California-based NGO.
She also received Press Freedom Prize in 2019 from Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders for her work.
Legal Initiatives for VIETNAM co-founder Trinh Huu Long expresses his apprehensions on freedom to publish in Vietnam, citing the “untouchables” in Vietnam. Pham Doan Trang joins the session with a pre-recorded message, as she receives the IPA’s Prix Voltaire, its freedom to publish prize for her courage to o publish works critical of the government and calling for democracy in Vietnam.
Trinh Huu Long, editor in chief of Luat Khoa, a Vietnamese language legal magazine, said that there are four “untouchables” in Vietnam. “You cannot criticize the General Secretary of the Communist Party, the president, the prime minister or the speaker of the House,” he said. “Everyone fears the government.”
But there was a hint of optimism. Long noted that change was inevitable. “Vietnam doesn’t have much choice,” he said. “It will have to open up to democratic countries for economic development, it will have to become more open and respect the rule of law and human rights – it will become a free country in time.”
The session included a moving pre-recorded address by the author and journalist and co-founder of Liberal Publishing House, Pham Doan Trang, who was arrested on 6 October. She has received the IPA’s Prix Voltaire, its freedom to publish prize, and described in her address the difficulties faced by those who choose to publish work critical of the government or calling for democracy. “We have to move from place to place, we cannot buy printing machinery because it will be picked up by CCTV, so our publishing is about hand-gluing the books. Book delivery is dangerous too. The police can disguised themselves as booksellers and make an arrest. Two book-shippers were arrested and tortured.”
She concluded her address with these words: “Books are not simply books for us – books mean our lives, books means freedom.”
Legal Initiatives for VIETNAM co-director Quiynh-Vi Tran, was cited in the report on digital media and internet freedom (reporting period June 2019 – May 2020) by Freedom House.
Digital mobilization in Vietnam tends to be local, rather than national, in scale, and often revolves around environmental issues, as well as concerns about the expansion of China’s influence. In January 2019, before the current coverage period, a group of environmentalists created the Facebook page Save Tam Đảo to protest a project by the real estate developer Sun Group in the Tam Đảo National Park. The page received thousands of likes and followers within a few weeks.[54]
Hanoi is set to implement a new decree on December 1 which seeks to to tighten control over the news media even more. Under the decree, anyone sharing information that authorities deem harmful but not serious enough for a criminal penalty could face steeper fines and a longer, 12-month suspension.
With this, independent journalists, such as Pham Doan Trang, who was jailed earlier this month, are at greater risk of arrest.
Vietnam’s journalists and social media users face a new obstacle to independent reporting through a government decree that imposes harsh penalties for sharing information deemed harmful to the country.
Observers and rights activists see the decree, due to go into effect Dec. 1, as part of Hanoi’s increasing efforts to tighten control over the news media.
Since January, Vietnam has arrested about 20 journalists, publishers and social media users over critical content; demanded that Facebook agree to censor “anti-state” posts; issued a one-month publishing ban on the news website Phu Nu Online over its investigations into environmental damage; and, last week, arrested prominent blogger and democracy activist Pham Doan Trang.
Vietnamese journalist Pham Doan Trang was awarded a 2019 Press Freedom Prize for Impact, Sept. 12, 2019, in Berlin. “I hope this award will encourage the Vietnamese people to engage more in press freedom,” she told VOA Vietnamese.
Under the latest decree, signed Oct. 7 by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, anyone sharing information that authorities deem harmful but not serious enough for a criminal penalty could face steeper fines and a longer, 12-month suspension.
The law previously allowed for fines of up to 100 million Vietnamese dong (US $4,300) and suspensions of up to six months. The most severe order was a three-month ban the Ministry of Information and Communications imposed on news outlet Tuoi Tre Online in July 2018. The ministry accused the outlet of disseminating false news over its reporting on the president’s comments on a protest law.
Provincial people’s committees and local authorities, along with the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Press Authority, will have power to issue the penalties.
Appeals are allowed, but administrative fines in Vietnam have to be paid within 10 days.
“The Vietnamese press is not the same as overseas. The country is governed by one-party rule. It does not accept pluralism or multiparty. It does not accept criticism,” Vo said. “They explicitly and unequivocally declare that the press is a propaganda tool of the party and state.”
Vietnam has a poor record for free media, ranking 175 out of 180 countries, where 1 is the most free, on an annual index compiled by media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Journalists at state-run and state-approved outlets have to register and meet certain requirements, such as having a press card and press activity permit.
But independent journalists, such as Pham Doan Trang, who was jailed earlier this month, are at greater risk of arrest.
The journalist’s Oct. 6 arrest “is another leap forward into an outright crackdown by the Communist Party of Vietnam,” Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk, told VOA Vietnamese.
“RSF is appalled by the arrest of Pham Doan Trang, who was honored with our Press Freedom Award for Impact exactly one year ago. Her only crime was to provide her fellow citizens with trustful information and enable them to fully exercise their rights,” Bastard said.
Pham, an outspoken democracy activist and author, was arrested on anti-state propaganda charges, police and state media said.
Rights groups condemned the arrest, which took place hours after annual U.S.-Vietnam human rights talks, and they warned that the blogger risked torture in custody.
Pham, who was arrested at an apartment in Ho Chi Minh City, is accused of “making, storing, distributing or disseminating information, documents and items against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,” To An Xo, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Security, said.
The blogger writes about legal issues, citizen rights and politics, and in September he released a joint investigative report into a government attack on a village that was the center of a land dispute.
The U.S. State Department expressed concern over Pham’s arrest.
“Her detention could impact freedom of expression in Vietnam. We urge the Vietnamese government to ensure its actions and laws are consistent with Vietnam’s international obligations and commitments,” the State Department said in a statement sent to VOA via email.
Legal Initiatives for VIETNAM co-founder Vi Tran shares her views on colleague and friend, Pham Doan Trang’s recent arrest. The embattled journalist and co-founder of Luat Khoa and The Vietnamese is known for her advocacies on human rights, the rule of law and democracy for Vietnam. Her peaceful ways to inform and educate through the might of the pen earned her support from local compatriots and international humanitarian organizations.
Prominent Vietnamese activist and journalist Pham Doan Trang was arrested by the police on October 6 for charges related to “conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” under Article 88 of the 1999 Penal Code, and “making, storing, spreading information, materials, items for the purpose of opposing the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” under Article 117 of the 2015 Penal Code. She faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted.
Doan Trang is part of the editorial board of The Vietnamese Magazine. She founded the online legal magazine Luat Khoa. She was also one of the founders of the Liberal Publishing House whose books on democracy have been confiscated by authorities. She also co-founded the Vietnam Legal Initiative, a United States-based NGO working to promote human rights in Vietnam.
Doan Trang authored the following books: Politics for the Common People, A Handbook for Families of Prisoners, On Non-Violent Resistance Techniques, Politics of a Police State and Citizen Journalism.
Doan Trang was previously arrested by the police for her role in protests against China’s incursion into Vietnam’s maritime territories and a community action protesting environment pollution. In several interviews, she narrated the attacks and harassment she endured in the hands of the police.
Doan Trang, who faced constant threats and surveillance from the police, anticipated her arrest as early as May 2019. She instructed her friend to release a letter titled “Just In Case I Am Imprisoned” if ever she was arrested.
Pham Doan Trang left this letter with me, to publicize upon her arrest. Please share. pic.twitter.com/lVt52Kpkea
In her letter, she asked those who will campaign for her freedom to prioritize other prisoners of conscience. She also wrote about the need to campaign for democratic reforms in Vietnam:
I don’t need freedom just for myself, that would be too easy. I want something much greater: freedom and democracy for all of Vietnam. It might see like some grand goal, but it’s totally possible, with your support.
She added that she will not “admit guilt, confess, or beg for leniency” because she is innocent. She has a personal appeal:
Send me my guitar and try to have the wardens accept it – For me, the guitar is like my Bible.
Several human rights advocates and media groups have issued statements in support of Doan Trang. Tran Quynh Vi, editor-in-chief of The Vietnamese Magazine, wrote about the importance of Doan Trang’s work as a journalist and activist:
Pham Doan Trang is a highly-respected journalist who has diligently expanded the political and legal information for the masses in Vietnam, encouraging people to practice the universal values of freedom and democracy that are stated clearly in Vietnam’s Constitution and which the government has also supported in many of the international treaties it has signed.
On October 6, 2020 at 23:30, the Vietnamese authorities arrested Pham Doan Trang, a co-founder and a current member of our organization, in Ho Chi Minh City. She was charged with “conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” under Article 88 of the 1999 Penal Code, and “making, storing, spreading information, materials, items for the purpose of opposing the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” under Article 117 of the 2015 Penal Code.
Legal Initiatives for Vietnam (LIV), The Vietnamese and Luat Khoa magazines, strongly condemn this blatant violation of human rights committed by the Vietnamese authorities. Pham Doan Trang is a highly-respected journalist who has diligently expanded the political and legal information for the masses in Vietnam, encouraging people to practice the universal values of freedom and democracy that are stated clearly in Vietnam’s Constitution and which the government has also supported in many of the international treaties it has signed. A journalist should be allowed to report and a writer must be able to publish her books in every corner of this world. Journalism is not a crime and journalists should not be treated as criminals. The suppression of these basic human rights should be treated as a crime.
We demand the Vietnamese government release journalist Pham Doan Trang unconditionally and immediately. In the meantime, from now until she is released, we demand that the authorities uphold her rights and legal interests, including her right not to be tortured, right to have legal representation, right to meet her family, right to privacy, right to medical assistance, and the right to have a full and complete access to all the files related to her case.
We also encourage our readers and those who care about Vietnam and Vietnamese citizens to raise objections against this arrest and join us in our demand to have Pham Doan Trang released immediately. Please join us in continuing her fight for freedom and in reporting, publishing, translating, and raising our voices against injustice whenever and wherever possible.
(signed)
Trinh Huu Long – Co-director Tran Quynh Vi – Co-director
The world press spoke out about Pham Doan Trang’s arrest in October 2020.
See numerous articles from different news agencies around the world as they reported and analyzed the verdict handed to prominent journalist and author Pham Doan Trang by the Vietnamese authorities.
A series of articles in many languages, from many news agencies around the world, simultaneously reported and analyzed the case of dissident journalist Pham Doan Trang who was arrested on October 7 and accused of “propaganda” against the state’.
With this charge, Pham Doan Trang could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
On October 7, BBC News published an article titled “Pham Doan Trang: Vietnam arrests famous pro-democracy blogger”, in which:
“Vietnam has arrested a prominent dissident writer and blogger just hours after holding talks with the United States on human rights.”
Simultaneously speaking out
Take pictures,
Dissident journalist Pham Doan Trang was arrested by the Vietnamese government on the evening of October 6, 2020
On the same day, The Guardian of the UK had an article with the title: “Vietnam arrests famous journalist when the state suppresses freedom of expression online”.
Writing that Pham Doan Trang is the author of many books with works on a variety of topics, from women’s rights and LGBT to the environment, campaign activities and land rights, the article states analysts’ opinions. :
Ms. Trang’s arrest is part of a crackdown on activists ahead of Vietnam’s national congress in January, while Facebook is facing criticism for growing complicity in the crackdown. press freedom of speech.”
British news agency Reuters reported that “Vietnam detained an activist a few hours after a human rights meeting with the US”. The bulletin wrote:
Sources and international human rights groups say Vietnam has arrested a blogger and a prominent dissident for “anti-state activities” hours after the country’s government held protests. Annual human rights negotiations with the United States…
Bloomberg also quoted a statement from Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), saying the arrest came hours after the annual human rights dialogue between the US and Vietnam. .
“Doan Trang’s blog covers politically sensitive topics, including the relationship between Vietnam and China and tensions over maritime and island claims,” Robertson said. According to Robertson, police arrested Trang in May 2016 when she went to meet President Barack Obama, who invited her to attend an activist gathering with him during his visit to Hanoi.
Aljazeera news agency also reported on the arrest of Pham Doan Trang. The paper portrays her as a celebrity known for her active fieldwork, participating in protests in support of imprisoned dissidents, demonstrating on the environment, and responding to demands. China’s navigation in the South China Sea.
Trang has been in the sights of security forces for more than 10 years and has been detained and harassed several times, including when she was on her way to a meeting with then-US President Barack Obama in 2016. , and a year later, when she came into contact with a delegation from the European Union on a fact-finding trip before the annual human rights dialogue with Vietnam,” the newspaper wrote.
The Book Seller reports that Ms. Pham Doan Trang is scheduled to speak in a joint session presented by the IPA at the Frankfurt Book Fair and her video speech will be broadcast as planned on October 15. .
In an article titled “Prix Voltaire laureate Pham Doan Trang arrested in Vietnam”, The Book Seller quotes Kristenn Einarsson, chair of the IPA’s Freedom of Publication committee, as saying: “This is terrible news. but sadly, it was predictable.Pham Doan Trang and Freedom Publishing House have been operating in the dark for many years.Mrs. Trang’s work and courage is an inspiration to all publishers. publishing, and the international publishing community must support her and fight for real freedom of publishing in Vietnam.”
Juergen Boos, president of Frankfurter Buchmesse, said: “We are very concerned about Pham Doan Trang’s arrest, just before the start of the world’s largest book fair that celebrates freedom of expression. We are delighted that the international publishing community will be able to listen to Pham Doan Trang in a pre-recorded video at the panel session on the topic ‘Guerilla publishing and international support’.”
Theshiftnews page quotes Mr. Daniel Bastard, Head of Asia – Pacific Department of Reporters Without Borders (RSW) – which awarded Pham Doan Trang the Press Freedom Award for Influence in 2019: “The arrest case Pham Doan Trang is the latest stage in the current Communist Party leadership’s pursuit of an increasingly repressive policy.
“Her only crime was providing her compatriots with independent information and helping them to fully exercise their rights under the Vietnamese constitution. Her place of residence is not a prison. She must be released immediately”.
The RSW representative also said that the most recent contact with Pham Doan Trang was when she was hospitalized for treatment of a leg wound that was allegedly caused by police after her arrest in 2018.
Shawn Crispin, Southeast Asia representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) , said in an article posted on the organization’s website: “The Vietnamese government should immediately release Pham Doan Trang and abolish it. all charges against her. Also end the decades-long campaign of repression against her. Vietnam needs to stop treating independent journalists like criminals.”
Vietnam is usually near the bottom of RSW’s rankings for press freedom, and currently ranks 174 out of 180 countries.
‘Increased suppression of freedom of speech’
In the case of Pham Doan Trang’s arrest, Yu Hah from Amnesty International told The Guardian that Facebook’s decision to comply with Vietnamese authorities’ censorship requests earlier this year “made them complicit with the country’s harsh suppression of free speech”.
“We’ve seen a steady increase in the moderation of legitimate comments on social and political issues on this platform since 2018, with a particularly strong increase in 2020. “
“Merely sharing information about Vietnam’s many serious human rights issues, from land disputes to the death penalty, has now become routine subject to arbitrary censorship on Facebook,” said Ms. Yu Hah. speak.
Take pictures,
Pham Doan Trang won the Press Freedom Award, Influence category, of Reporters Without Borders, 2019
The Guardian reiterated that in March 2020, a Reuters report revealed how Facebook faced intense pressure from the Vietnamese government. State-run telecommunications companies have shut down Facebook’s Vietnam-based servers. This slows down local traffic on Facebook.
As a result, Facebook began censoring content deemed “anti-state” in Vietnam, including content posted by activists like Pham Doan Trang.
Facebook emphasizes that the posts are not deleted but are “geo-blocked”, meaning that users with a Vietnamese IP address cannot see them, but are still visible to users abroad.
But the article in The Guardian claims that geo-blocking not only affects important posts, but also affects individual accounts.
The example given is Bui Van Thuan, a Vietnamese Facebook user with tens of thousands of followers. On January 8, after Thuan posted content critical of the government, he received a notice from Facebook that “due to a legal requirement” in Vietnam, his account would be “restricted from access”.
In the weeks leading up to the interview with The Guardian, Thuan publicly wrote on Facebook about the conflict over land rights in Dong Tam. More specifically, he predicted an imminent crackdown. Two days later, about 3,000 policemen raided Dong Tam village at dawn and in clashes with villagers, three policemen and Mr. Le Dinh Kinh – the village’s spiritual leader – were killed.
Just eight months after the clash, the murder trial delivered a verdict. Two brothers, his son Le Dinh Kinh was sentenced to death. Thuan’s Facebook account remained restricted all the time and was only unlocked a few days after the trial ended.
Carl Thayer, professor emeritus at the University of New South Wales Canberra, an expert on Southeast Asia, told The Guardian that since Vietnam started implementing the Cybersecurity Law in 2019 there has been “a clear increase” marked the arrest and trial of Vietnamese who expressed their views on a number of social issues, especially corruption and the environment, on social networks”.
“Most of the arrests are indirectly related to the upcoming national congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam [in January],” Professor Carl Thayer was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
“In other words,” said Carl Thayer, “the arrests are part of a process that continues to quell disagreements on sensitive social issues and prevent others from following suit. Arrests will spike in the coming months as the congress draws near.”
Update: On October 18, 2021, the Hanoi People’s Procuracy issued an indictment against Ms. Pham Thi Doan Trang for “conducting propaganda against the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, as stipulated in article 88 of the Penal Code 1999”. According to Vietnamese newspapers on the same day, the indictment was transferred to the Hanoi People’s Court. The trial is expected to be opened on November 4, presided over by Judge Chu Phuong Ngoc.
Several human rights groups voiced their dismay over the arrest of Luat Khoa and The Vietnamese co-founder, Pham Doan Trang just hours after annual U.S.-Vietnam human rights talks. Human Rights Watch calls the arrest a “scorched earth response” to political dissent in the country.
Outspoken Vietnamese democracy activist and author Pham Doan Trang has been arrested on anti-state propaganda charges, police and state media said Wednesday, as rights groups condemned her apprehension just hours after annual U.S.-Vietnam human rights talks and warned that the blogger faced the risk of torture in custody.
Pham Doan Trang was arrested at an apartment in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday night and charged under article 117 of the Vietnamese Penal Code, accused of “making, storing, distributing or disseminating information, documents and items against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,” To An Xo, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Security, said. Trang, described by state media as a blogger who used to work for various publications in Vietnam, was transferred to Hanoi.
If convicted, she could face up to 20 years in prison, Amnesty International said, warning that she faced serious danger in official custody.
“Pham Dan Trang faces an imminent risk of torture and other-ill treatment at the hands of the Vietnamese authorities. She must be immediately and unconditionally released,” said Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns, Ming Yu Hah, in a statement.
“The arrest of Pham Doan Trang is reprehensible. She is a leading figure in the struggle for human rights in Viet Nam. She has inspired countless young activists to speak up for a more just, inclusive, and free Vietnam,” said Hah.
‘Scorched earth response’
Human Rights Watch noted that her arrest occurred “just a few hours after the annual human rights dialogue between the United States and Vietnam” and that she was immediately charged.
“Vietnam’s scorched earth response to political dissent is on display for all to see with the arrest of prominent blogger and author Pham Doan Trang,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch.
“Every day she spends behind bars is a grave injustice that violates Vietnam’s international human rights commitments and brings dishonor to the government,” he said in a statement.
“Governments around the world and the UN must prioritize her case, speak out loudly and consistently on her behalf, and demand her immediate and unconditional release,” added Robertson.
Rachael Chen, spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, said the mission was concerned about the reported arrest and “monitoring the situation closely.”
“We urge the Vietnamese government to ensure its actions and laws are consistent with Vietnam’s international obligations and commitments,” she said in an e-mailed comment.
“Authors, bloggers, and journalists often do their work at great risk, and it is the duty of governments and citizens worldwide to speak out for their protection,” said Chen.
Spate of arrests
Following Trang’s arrest, her friends posted a message they said was written by her in advance, that read: “Nobody wants to go to jail, but if prison is the place for those who fight for freedom, and if it is the place to carry out set goals, then we should go to prison.”
Human Rights Watch noted that last month Trang had published the third edition of a report of a violent clash at Dong Tam commune outside Hanoi in January. The publication of the first edition of that report one week after the incident led to the arrest in June three out of five authors of the report, Can Thi Theu and her sons Trinh Ba Phuong and Trinh Ba Tu. They were also charged with for anti-state propaganda.
Amid a spate of arrests and abuse of independent journalists this year in Vietnam, Trang told RFA in May that toleration of dissent was deteriorating and likely to get worse in the run-up to the ruling Communist Party congress in January.
“Freedom has always been restricted, but nowadays it seems to be narrower, and there’s more and more violence,” she said at the time. “From now until the party congress, the scope of freedom can be tightened more and more, and the suppression will increase.”
Trang, who released a well-regarded book titled Politics for Everyone, was awarded the Reporters Without Borders 2019 Press Freedom Prize. She founded the online legal magazine Luat Khoa and edits another web-based rights journal called thevietnamese.
The arrest of Pham Doan Trang- regarded as one of Vietnam’s prominent journalist and a critic of the authorities, is part of the government’s repressive tactics to silence dissidents. The one-party state is also preparing a cybersecurity law that will require internet companies like Facebook and Google to remove content deemed ‘anti-state’.
Vietnamese authorities have arrested Pham Doan Trang – one of the nation’s most prominent independent journalists.
Trang was detained on Tuesday evening in Ho Chi Minh City, the same day Vietnam and the US held the 24th annual US-Vietnam human rights dialogue, which included talks on issues such as the right to freedom of expression.
Analysts say her arrest is part of a crackdown on activists ahead of Vietnam’s five-yearly national congress in January, while Facebook is facing criticism for growing increasingly complicit in suppressing freedom of speech.
Vietnamese authorities confirmed on Wednesday that they had charged Trang with “making, storing, distributing or disseminating information, documents and items” that aim to oppose the Vietnamese state. The harshest sentence for this crime is 20 years in jail.
Trang is the author of numerous books whose work covers everything from women’s rights and LGBT issues to environmental concerns, activism and land rights. In 2019, Reporters Without Borders awarded her a Press Freedom Prize in recognition of her impact.
Most recently, she spoke out online about a highly sensitive land rights clash in Dong Tam Village – related to the construction of a military airport on farmland claimed by villagers on the outskirts of Hanoi – in which one villager and three policemen lost their lives.
Phil Robertson at Human Rights Watch said: “Despite suffering years of systemic government harassment, including severe physical attacks, she has remained faithful to her principles of peaceful advocacy for human rights and democracy. Her thoughtful approach to reforms, and demands for people’s real participation in their governance, are messages the Vietnam government should listen to and respect, not repress.”
Ming Yu Hah at Amnesty International said: “This is an outrageous arrest. Pham Doan Trang is a leading figure in the struggle for human rights in Vietnam. She has inspired countless young activists to speak up for a more just, inclusive and free Vietnam.”
Hah told the Guardian Facebook’s decision to cave into Vietnamese authorities’ demands for censorship earlier this year makes them complicit in the country’s harsh repression of freedom of expression.
“We have documented a persistent rise in the censorship of legitimate commentary on social and political affairs on the platform since 2018, with a particularly sharp increase in 2020,” she added. “Merely sharing information about Vietnam’s many serious human rights problems, from land disputes to the death penalty, now regularly leads to arbitrary censorship on Facebook.”
In March this year, a Reuters report revealed how Facebook faced intense pressure from the Vietnamese government. State-run telecommunications companies took the social media site’s local servers offline, which slowed local traffic on the site to a crawl. Consequently, the company began allowing censorship in Vietnam of content deemed “anti-state”, including those by activists like Trang.
Vietnam is in the process of finalising guidelines for its highly controversial cybersecurity law, which requires internet companies like Facebook and Google to remove content deemed “anti-state” and says the US tech giants will have to set up local offices and servers in Vietnam if they wish to continue operating – a request the organisations have refused to carry out.
Foreshadowing a possible arrest by the Vietnam authorities, journalist and human rights defender Pham Doan Trang wrote a letter accepting her fate and the risk of being incarcerated.
In the letter, the strong willed and courageous freedom fighter clearly expressed what everyone’s priority should be and that is fighting for a democratic, free Vietnam.
“JUST IN CASE I AM IMPRISONED,” Pham Doan Trang wrote across the top of a letter she gave to a fellow dissident for safekeeping last year. Vietnam’s most prominent democracy activist anticipated her arrest, which came Tuesday, when she was accused of “making, storing, distributing or disseminating information, documents and items against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.” Her letter was made public, and it contained a remarkable appeal.
“No one wants to sit in prison,” she said. “But if prison is inevitable for freedom fighters, if prison can serve a pre-determined purpose, then we should happily accept it.”
“I don’t want freedom for just myself; that’s too easy,” she wrote. “I want something greater: freedom for Vietnam.”
She urged people not to campaign for her release, but instead to seek democratic reforms, including free and fair elections for the National Assembly, and to focus on her writings and books about political rights, with titles such as “Politics for the Common People,” “Politics of a Police State,” “Citizen Journalism,” “A Handbook for Families of Prisoners” and others. If interrogated by the authorities, she vowed that she “will not admit guilt, confess, or beg for leniency,” but “will always assert that I want to abolish dictatorship in Vietnam.”
She also wrote: “Please take care of my mother.”
Ms. Trang’s arrest is the latest and one of the most flagrant in Vietnam’s long practice of squelching freedom of expression and political dissent, including arrests of bloggers and independent journalists. The repression appears to be intensifying ahead of a Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, held every five years, expected in January. Ms. Trang is being held incommunicado, a common practice in such cases. Article 117 of the Vietnamese penal code, under which Ms. Trang and others have been charged, carries a potential 20-year prison term. She told Radio Free Asia in May, “Freedom has always been restricted, but nowadays it seems to be narrower, and there’s more and more violence. From now until the party congress, the scope of freedom can be tightened more and more, and the suppression will increase.”
In her letter, Ms. Trang recalled Vietnam’s practice of jailing dissidents, then releasing them under conditions of immediate expulsion, as with Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, the blogger known as Mother Mushroom, who was released from a Vietnamese jail and expelled to the United States in 2018. Ms. Trang rejected that fate. “Focus less on freeing me,” she wrote, and more on advancing her cause, including “free and fair elections.” These are the words of a selfless and courageous champion of democracy.
