Watch Legal Initiatives for VIETNAM co-director Trinh Huu Long as he receives the 2019 JOURNALISM AWARD in behalf of his colleague Pham Doan Trang.
Watch the Interview:
Interviewing Mr. Trinh Huu Long (receiving the award on behalf of Doan Trang) and Ms. Le Thi Minh Ha (Anh Ba Sam’s wife) right in the hall, after awarding the award.
Pham Doan Trang, Luật Khoa and The Vietnamese co-founder, was honored by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) with the Prize for Impact.
In her recorded acceptance message, Ms. Trang says the award “shows that “journalists around the world, especially those who are victims of persecution, maltreatment, torture and extortion by government authorities, are not alone in their fight for justice, truth and human rights.”
Excerpt:
The press freedom efforts of a Vietnamese blogger-reporter were honored at a Reporters Without Borders (RSF) event held in Berlin on Sept. 12.
Pham Doan Trang, 41, won RSF’s Prize for Impact, an award granted to journalists whose work improves journalistic freedoms, independence and pluralism.
Trang was unable to receive her prize in person, so it was instead accepted by one of her colleagues, Trinh Huu Long, at the German event.
For her press work, Trang was beaten and detained twice for several days in 2018.
Trang is the founder of www.luatkhoa.org, an online magazine that specializes in providing legal information. She also works as an editor of www.thevietnamese.org, which assists Vietnamese citizens to defend their rights in their communist-run country.
She is the author of many books including one defending the rights of Vietnam’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.
In a brief video clip sent to the ceremony, Trang played the guitar and sang a folk song.
She also said RSF’s annual Press Freedom Awards shows that “journalists around the world, especially those who are victims of persecution, maltreatment, torture and extortion by government authorities, are not alone in their fight for justice, truth and human rights.”
Via the video, Trang said journalism in Vietnam is seen as a crime against the communist state.
“The prize helps me understand fully that no prize is a private one, no achievement is purely of an individual without countless efforts of many people secretly and publicly accompanying that person,” she said, adding that the prize is also for all people seeking the truth.
Trang also expressed her deep gratitude to advocates for her cause and thousands of readers who accept risks, anxieties and dangers to buy her banned books.
The Liberal Publishing House, Vietnam’s only independent publisher whose activities are restricted by police, said the prize is a great honor for both itself and Trang.
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We borrow the following paragraph from Journal of Democracy:
On September 12, Reporters Without Borders awarded its Press Freedom Prize for Impact to Vietnamese journalist Pham Doan Trang. Trang is the editor of the online human-rights magazine The Vietnamese, and founder of the online magazine Luat Khoa. Trang has been repeatedly beaten and imprisoned for her activism. Trinh Huu Long, Trang’s coeditor at Luat Khoa, accepted the award on her behalf when travel restrictions prevented Trang from attending the ceremony in Berlin. Speaking via video, Trang said, “We will fight until journalism is no longer seen as a crime anywhere in the world.”
Learn more about Doan Trang here.
LIV’s Co-Director Trinh Huu Long’s speech at the event:
Deutsche Welle (DW) narrates the challenges faced by the three recipients of the RSF 2019 Press Freedom Prize.
Vietnamese blogger and journalist Pham Doan Trang was awarded The Prize for Impact but missed the award ceremony because of harassment and threats of imprisonment by the authorities. She was represented by Legal Initiatives for VIETNAM co-founder Trinh Huu Long who, together with Pham Doan Trang and several other free press advocates established two online magazines – Luật Khoa and The Vietnamese.
Excerpt:
Only Muscat was able to appear in person to collect her “Prize for Independence.” Vietnamese blogger Pham Doan Trang, who won the “Prize for Impact,” and Saudi Arabian women’s rights activist Eman al-Nafjan, winner of the “Prize for Courage,” both remain barred from leaving their countries, their websites blocked, and under constant threat of detention and harassment.
Both women were represented by friends who have moved to freer countries, and who are also committed to the struggle for press freedom. Trang sent Huu Long Trinh, a Taipei-based journalist who co-founded the civil society organization Legal Initiatives for Vietnam (LIV), while al-Nafjan was represented by her former student Omaima al-Najjar, who, following her former teacher’s example, started her own blog about Saudi women’s rights from her home in Italy.
Saudi Arabia and Vietnam: different regimes, same repression
The Vietnamese regime is not religious, but hardly less repressive. Vietnam is still a communist country dominated by a single political party that allows no private, independent media at all.
For that reason, LIV has set up two magazines: Luat Khoa, which focuses on political and legal issues, and the English-language The Vietnamese, while also training and providing resources to journalists in Vietnam to produce their own work. “What we’re trying to do is to make free press a reality in Vietnam,” Huu Long Trinh told DW.
Trinh said Trang is helping to produce these magazines in the face of extreme government harassment: “She’s been detained by police countless times, beaten up a few times,” he said. “She’s not even allowed to stay in one place for more than a week. She has to move to different places every one or two weeks. So what I’m trying to do now is have her be recognized internationally more, so that it could be safer for her at home.”
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Luat Khoa co-founder and The Vietnamese co-editor Pham Doan Trang received the 2019 Press Freedom Prize for Impact, given by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Saudi journalist Eman al Nafjan and Maltese journalist Caroline Muscat were the other two awardees.
Title: Journalists from Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Malta honoured at RSF’s 2019 Press Freedom Awards
Publish Date: September 12, 2019
Publisher: Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Excerpt:
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) awarded its 2019 Press Freedom Prize today (12 September) to Saudi journalist Eman al Nafjan, Vietnamese journalist Pham Doan Trang and Maltese journalist Caroline Muscat, at a ceremony held for the first time in Berlin.
To mark the 25th anniversary of its German section, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) held its annual Press Freedom Awards at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin today (12 September). Hosted by TV presenter and journalist Pinar Atalay, the ceremony was attended by many distinguished guests including Berlin governing mayor Michael Müller, former Editor in Chief of The Guardian Alan Rusbridger, Der Spiegel journalist Susanne Koelbl, TV5Monde journalist Nidhya Paliakara, former RSF Press Freedom Prize laureates Swati Chaturvedi, Can Dündar and Grigory Pasko…
The Prize for Impact, which is given to journalists whose work has led to concrete improvements in journalistic freedom, independence and pluralism, or to an increase in awareness of these matters, was awarded to Vietnamese journalist and blogger Pham Doan Trang. She is the founder of Luât Khoa, an online magazine that specializes in providing information about legal issues, and she edits another, thevietnamese, which also helps Vietnamese citizens to defend their rights and resist the Communist Party’s arbitrary rule. The author of many books including one defending the rights of Vietnam’s LGBT communities, she has been beaten by the police because of her work and was detained arbitrarily twice for several days in 2018.
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Blogger and Luật Khoa editor-in-chief Pham Doan Trang states her reasons for refusing to go to Berlin to receive her Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom award despite the interventions and assistance of the German Embassy in Hanoi.
Excerpt:
Note: Original texts in Vietnamese.
On the evening of September 12, 2019 in Berlin, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) officially awarded the Press Freedom award in the category of Influence to independent journalist and blogger Pham Doan Trang of Vietnam.
Blogger Pham Doan Trang, the author of several political books banned from publication in the country, told VOA that she decided not to go to Berlin to attend the RSF award ceremony on September 12 because she knew that the Vietnamese government could cause harm. prevented her from leaving the country, even though the German Embassy in Hanoi intervened.
Female blogger Pham Doan Trang says:
“I think if I want to go, the government can give it away, but certainly before I go, I have to sit down and negotiate, and I have to accept some conditions set by the government, and if I don’t accept it, then I don’t want to go. can not go. Since I didn’t want to talk to them, I decided not to go.
“As far as I know, the German Ambassador intervened with the Vietnamese government to return the right to carry passports as well as ensure the freedom of entry and exit of some Vietnamese activists including myself.
“The German side is very enthusiastic, but in my experience, we have to negotiate with the Vietnamese police anyway such as: not campaigning, not propagandizing, not slandering the country…otherwise they will start a campaign. element; they’ll also think they’ll have a hard time deciding whether or not I’ll go home, so it’s best for me to decide not to go.”
On August 29, activist Pham Doan Trang, co-founder of the online website Law Faculty Magazine , was nominated by RSF for the Freedom of the Press Award in the Influence category.
Ms. Doan Trang commented on the reason why she was nominated by RSF for the Influence category :
“I think maybe they know that in the last 2-3 years I have published a lot of books, besides my editorial work at Law Faculty of Journalism . Every year I publish 2-3 books and have such a large readership that I am surprised myself. Maybe they use that to award prizes.
“I know that the value that RSF pursues when considering this award is that they want journalists around the world, especially journalists who are victims of persecution, harassment, abuse, government abuse. right to know that these journalists are not alone in their fight.
“RSF has really helped people in my situation feel that they are not alone.”
Blogger Pham Doan Tranh’s books recently released by Freedom Publishing House include Popular Politics, Nonviolent Resistance, Prison Raising Manual, Politics of A Police State , etc.
On the evening of September 12, present in Berlin, journalist Trinh Huu Long announced on Facebook:
“For many reasons, journalist Doan Trang did not go to Germany to attend this award ceremony. Journalist Trinh Huu Long, Editor-in-Chief of Law Khoa , will attend the event on behalf of journalist Doan Trang.”
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Pham Doan Trang shares the challenges and her personal experiences as a woman blogger and human rights activist, recounting the incident of police brutality that led her to permanently injure both of her legs.
Excerpt:
The 88 Project, an organisation supporting freedom of expression in Vietnam, released the first video of an ongoing interview series with female activists in Vietnam. In the first interview with Pham Doan Trang, a dissident journalist and political activist, she discusses the challenges women face as bloggers and human rights activists:
In general, Vietnamese women are not respected. Not only in democracy activism but in all fields. In democracy activism, female activists are disadvantaged because they get attacked no less than male activists. They get beaten and assaulted. The work they do is no less than their male counterparts. But what they often get from other people is pity. I think it is not respect.
She also recounts an incident of police brutality which led to permanent injury to both of her legs.
During a demonstration to protect trees and the environment in Ha Noi, they attacked me and broke both of my legs.
Despite the challenges faced by female human rights defenders both in and out of prison, Pham Doan Trang says that there may be a higher purpose when women are involved in political activism.
In a dictatorship nobody has freedom, but especially for women, their lack of freedom is multiplied many times compared to men. Because women are not only victims of the regime in terms of politics, but they are also victims of gender inequality and self-constraint. Women restrain themselves in thinking that they are not suitable for a political career. That politics are for men.
We should think that our fight is not only against dictatorship or to free Vietnam from a dictatorship. It is also a fight to free ourselves from the ideological constraints from the prejudice that we impose on ourselves until today.
According to the 88 Project database, there are currently more than 200 prisoners of conscience in Vietnam with over 30 identifying as female.
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It would be almost impossible to discuss media freedom in Vietnam without first reviewing the country’s political situation over the past year. The authoritarian state created a narrow window of opportunity for non-state and independent media to grow over the years, despite state censorship.
Title: VIETNAM: The Net as the New ‘Battlefield’
Publish Date: May 6, 2019
Publisher: Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)
Excerpt:
What frustrates Vietnamese Facebook users the most about this phenomenon is that Facebook has refused to explain its decisions, which it considers to be final. Affected users have been unable to find out the specific “community standard” they were accused of violating, even after they had appealed their cases.
The standards that Facebook has been using, however, appeared even more arbitrary when coupled with the operation of its unknown, undisclosed third party’s fact-checkers. For example, in March 2019, Facebook deleted four articles from the fan page of Luat Khoa online magazine for violating its “community standards”. It has yet to give further explanation for its action. The titles of these four pieces are: “US-China’s trade negotiations: America wants China to scale down its cybersecurity law” ; “Vietnam owes Cambodia an apology”; “A look at different ‘isms’”; “Donald Trump’s life story: Crisis and a father’s safety net”.
Over 17,000 people signed an online petition initiated by Luat Khoa in July 2018, asking Facebook to provide its position on the new cybersecurity law. A summary of the signatures was gathered and sent to Mark Zuckerberg by FedEx delivery in October 2018. Yet, the company to this day remains unresponsive. Mai Khoi, a Vietnamese dissident singer, wrote on her Facebook page in January 2019 that although she had met with several people at Facebook to discuss these issues, it did not lead to any substantial progress.
Intimidation offline continues
Journalist Pham Doan Trang can barely claim even cold comfort, however, for facing “only” increased intimidation and threats from the government during this past year. The actions of the government against her seem to be connected to her publication of her books. To date, Trang has written and published three books on the topics of politics, policymaking, and criminal procedures.
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Inspirational words and support poured out for passionate activist Vi Tran, co-founder of Luật Khoa, The Vietnamese and co-director of Legal Initiatives for VIETNAM, as she makes her way to full recovery after a series of high-risk surgeries.
Title: Nhà hoạt động Vi Trần qua cái nhìn của một người cùng chí hướng
Publish Date: May 3, 2019
Publisher: BBC Tiếng Việt
Article:
Note: Original texts in Vietnamese.
Co-founder of Luat Khoa magazine told the BBC that activist Wei Chen, who is seriously ill in Taiwan, “has the greatest intention of returning to live in his homeland”.
By the end of May 2, hundreds of people had contributed to the hospital fees for Ms. Vi Tran, co-founder of Luat Khoa magazine and recently The Vietnamese, who is hospitalized in Taiwan due to a brain hemorrhage. led to a stroke more than two weeks ago.
She has had two complicated and high-risk surgeries and is about to have another, and according to her family, “probably a long course of therapy”.
Her family set up a donation page because the hospital fees are quite heavy, while she does not have health insurance in Taiwan, and has spent all her personal money on projects.
In 2015, Ms. Vi, who was described by friends as “deeply in love with Vietnam and the Vietnamese language”, left her career as a lawyer in California to work in the Philippines and Taiwan, promoting Internet and press freedom. and abolish the death penalty as well as advocate for human rights for Vietnam.
On May 2, answering BBC from Taiwan, Trinh Huu Long, co-founder of Luat Khoa magazine, said: “I always hope that Vi will make a full recovery, because she is young and has been for a long time. In addition, Vi is a very strong and courageous woman. Vi must make a full recovery in order to continue her ideals, she certainly will.”
“Vi is one of the four founders of Luat Khoa, and together with me acts as the co-director of the non-profit organization Legal Initiatives for Vietnam, which is the governing body of the Law. Khoa and The Vietnamese.”
“Vi is a lawyer, her instinct to practice law is very strong. She always wants people to understand the law better, use legal tools and civil rights to challenge those who break the law and violate the law. That’s the mission of Luat Khoa. Before getting sick, Vi was still crawling around with a bunch of newly purchased books on religion and religious freedom in Vietnam, because Vi is in charge of this column, is expected to be officially launched soon after some testing recently.”
“For The Vietnamese newspaper, Vi is the manager and producer, with the help of some volunteers. Vi wants to turn it into a quality and reputable English-language newspaper on political issues and human rights in Vietnam. Nam. Vi is trying to raise money for this newspaper, as it currently has absolutely no operating budget, and hopes to pay a salary for one or two writers and editors.”
“As far as I know, one thing Vi has pursued for a long time and is very passionate about it, is the wrongful trial of death row prisoners in Vietnam. I know Vi cries many times every time she hears Ho Duy’s heartbreaking stories. Hai, Nguyen Van Chuong, Le Van Manh, Dang Van Hien Vi is very passionate about this and often actively collects information, writes articles for The Vietnamese, writes reports to the United Nations and international organizations Vi is also looking for ways to raise funds to expand this activity, because besides Vi and one or two other people, in our country no one seems to go into this issue deeply.”
Mr. Long added:
“I don’t dare say that Vi is different or similar to any other female activist. In my opinion, Vi is a fierce activist, fierce at times to the point of being extremely stubborn. The story of Vi leaves out one fact. favorable career and an easy life in California to go to Asia to work with an income close to the level of a volunteer speaks for that fierceness and stubbornness.”
“She decided not to work for a few years and then returned to the US. For Vi, human rights activism is life, life, not pure work. And when she follows that path, what does Vi do? also do it to the end, just as fiercely.”
“I know Vi loves Vietnam very much. She’s been away from the country since she was 12, but she speaks Vietnamese just like any other in Saigon. Vietnamese literature is in Vi’s veins. She never wanted to leave Vietnam. When my family immigrated to the US, I knew that my family had to convince me by saying that Vi should consider going abroad to study early, and must promise Vi that when she grows up, she will have the right to decide whether to continue in the US or return. Vietnam, only then will Vi agree to go.”
“And Vi’s biggest intention is to return to live in her homeland, whenever possible. Vi last came back in 2012 to volunteer for a humanitarian organization in the West.”
“Another thing is that Vi is extremely hard-working. When she started on this path, she had to learn a lot about Vietnam, from politics, law, to technical terms of these two fields. Vi even learning how to write a newspaper, and write Vietnamese newspapers in a way that is pure Vietnamese. Vi claims to be my “student” because I’m ahead of Vi in journalism.”
Commenting on the fundraising on the Gofundme page that is about to reach the number set by Vi Tran’s family, Mr. Long said:
“I’m really touched by everyone’s interest in Vi. It shows that the community always cares about those who dedicate themselves to the country. Kindness is everywhere. And that is the greatest hope. When we love Vietnam together, love each other and work together, there’s no reason why the country’s future isn’t bright.”
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Luật Khoa and The Vietnamese co-founder Vi Tran recently suffered a life-threatening illness. She is now being treated at a hospital in Taiwan.
A Vietnamese-American, Vi gave up her career as a lawyer in the US to join Pham Doan Trang and Trinh Huu Long as they set out to improve human rights and democracy in Vietnam.
Full Article in English:
Note: Original texts in Vietnamese:
WESTMINSTER, California (NV) – Small figure, bright face and friendly smile always on the lips are the impression of anyone who first meets Tran Quynh Vi (Vi Tran), the full American name is Vi Katerina Tran.
Many people know Vi not only as a lawyer, but also as a co-founder of Law Khoa Magazine and The Vietnamese. These magazines are considered “reactionary,” “anti-government,” “yellow flag” by “the state press” and by public opinion in Vietnam.
However, in the past few days, all of Vi’s friends and acquaintances were stunned when they heard that she had “a brain hemorrhage leading to a stroke and was treated at a hospital in Taiwan.”
News of this young lawyer’s illness was “found” and “shared” by friends after the “Gofundme” fund, set up by her cousins, appeared on Saturday, 27. April, call for help so she can pay for her medical expenses.
Having a serious illness
According to what is written on the “Gofundme” page, “Vi is a member of a non-profit organization that promotes human rights and democracy. But tragically, she recently suffered a severe brain bleed and was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm, a very dangerous disease. Vi has undergone two major surgeries in Taiwan and will need various medical treatments for at least the next six months. But Vi has no health insurance. Our family asks everyone to pray for Vi. We also need everyone’s help to pay for Vi’s medical bills, many of which run into the tens of thousands of dollars.”
This news caused a great shock to everyone who knew Vi. Everyone was bewildered, and finally, had to accept the truth when Trinh Huu Long, a close friend and co-founder of Law Khoa Magazine, spoke up to confirm.
“I would like to confirm this information. Vi suffered a brain hemorrhage leading to a stroke more than two weeks ago and was treated at a hospital in Taiwan,” Trinh Huu Long wrote on his personal Facebook page on the evening of April 30 (California time).
“The doctor said this is a special type of stroke and very dangerous. They come up with many theories, but don’t know for sure why. Vi has undergone two surgeries, just overcame a critical condition. The current situation is that Vi is gradually becoming more alert and showing many signs of good recovery. Vi will soon have to undergo another surgery,” said Mr. Long.
Blogger Pham Doan Trang, who is also a close friend and co-founder of Law Khoa Magazine, added, “Now Vi has just undergone two brain surgeries in Taiwan. Vi can hardly return to the US for treatment, because the medical costs in the US are too high while Vi is no longer insured. Perhaps Vi is temporarily out of danger, but the possibility of recovery to return to normal as before is still very far. Vi’s work at Luat Khoa and the English newspaper The Vietnamese had to stop. Please everyone help my friend, in any way possible, especially financially support and contribute, maintain content for The Vietnamese.”
“A strange, inexplicable, love for Vietnam”
As a friend, Ms. Doan Trang said, “Vi and her family left Vietnam in 1992. She has American citizenship, inherited American education, uses English more fluently than Vietnamese in the field. Her area of expertise is law, and has been an established attorney, opening a law firm in San Jose, California.”
“But there is a strange, inexplicable love in Vi for Vietnam – the country her family was forced to leave. In 2014, when Trinh Huu Long and I opened the online newspaper Luat Khoa magazine, Vi volunteered to give up everything – a very good paying job, a very bright career, a peaceful and full life in America – to join us on a road full of hardships, risks and uncertainties,” blogger Doan Trang feels.
Sharing his feelings about his special partner, Mr. Trinh Huu Long expressed, “As the person closest to Vi over the years, I understand that Vi has sacrificed a lot to take this arduous path. Vi never wanted to leave Vietnam, ever since she was a child. Loving Vietnam and the Vietnamese language dearly, four years ago Vi left his career in California to work in the Philippines and Taiwan.”
Lam Kieu Lam, now living in New York, is a friend of Vi Tran, sharing, “… When I first joined Facebook, I knew absolutely nothing about politics. It is from the coincidence of knowing Vi that I have learned many things from Vi until now, so that from there I pay attention to the situation in Vietnam and the US, care, share and learn, learn to know. more things, about the homeland I left behind and about the country I now call home.”
“If anyone asks what made that girl of Saigon origin, even though she left her hometown and settled in the US at a very young age, studied, became a lawyer, fluent in English, an American citizen, but her soul very pure Vietnamese and always oriented towards the roots, I think it is because of her earnest love for Saigon and Vietnam,” added Ms. Lam Kieu Lam.
Mr. Sang Nguyen, a member of VOICE organization, now in Garden Grove, commented, “Although very young, Vi has matured more than many other people her age or older. Her commitment has said all of her aspiration to do something to see the change of her homeland and country. Vi is modest, but rushes to the front lines with personal sacrifice to do what few people want. Anyone who has contact with Vi will see how likable, easy to love and easy to admire!”
For Ms. Giang Tang, now in San Francisco, a person who has known Vi Tran since she was in Vietnam also expressed shock when she heard the terrible news, “I can’t believe it when I read this news. She is a kind person. I have known Ms. Vi since 2012, when she returned to Kien Giang to volunteer for the Catalyst Foundation. At that time, Ms. Vi and a group of humanitarian Americans came to help the poor people suffering from human trafficking in my hometown.”
“I know you are a great attorney in California, I admire you very much and am delighted to have the opportunity to see you again here in the Bay Area. However, I have not seen Ms. Vi again since she moved to Asia to work for a non-profit organization that helps improve human rights and democracy in Vietnam. I can’t believe this happened to you. Sister Vi deserves a better life!” Jiang said excitedly.
“For me personally, Vi is the embodiment of American values: courageous, enthusiastic, fierce, dedicated, but also very realistic, wise, without any illusions about things that are not real. . Friendship with Vi is also a great source of encouragement for me in the most difficult times, because I have faith that I have Vi by my side, the democracy movement has Vi, Vietnam is fortunate to have a Vietnamese like Vi. ,” shared freelance journalist Pham Doan Trang.
Mr. Trinh Huu Long adds, “As a co-founder of Luat Khoa magazine and recently The Vietnamese, Vi worked hard the first two years we were in Taiwan with a very meager salary and have to use their own money to cover living expenses. Vi never said it, but I know for sure that Vi still uses her own money to pay for many of Luat Khoa’s bills, later the budget is better, then I told Vi to check how much Luat Khoa owes Vi for Luat Khoa to pay back, but more than that. For half a year, Vi has never counted and never told me.”
According to Mr. Long, “Vi doesn’t have health insurance in Taiwan, so getting sick like this has to pay for it all by herself.”
More than ever, this is the time when a person like Lawyer Vi Tran needs the hands of relatives, friends, and all those who always support the aspirations of freedom and civil rights in Vietnam. out with her, helping her overcome this harsh challenge, and also helping her fulfill her dream of “wanting to return to work with the people in Vietnam, especially the petitioners, those who have been wronged in criminal cases.” ” as she once confessed in an interview with VOA before falling ill.
For all contributions to Ms. Vi Tran, please visit the Gofundme page by CLICKING HERE. (Ngoc Lan)
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