Legal Initiatives for Vietnam (LIV), a non-profit, non-partisan organization that works to build a truly democratic society in Vietnam through independent journalism, research, and education, released an open letter on August 21, 2021, addressed to the office of the United States Vice President, Kamala Harris.
Following the publication of the 88 Project’s own correspondence with the Vice President, LIV urges her to bring up these additional issues with Vietnamese leaders during her planned visits to Singapore and Vietnam:
- the unconditional release of several illegally detained and imprisoned journalists, including LIV’s co-founder, Pham Doan Trang and;
- the unblocking of independent news websites, such as luatkhoa.org and thevietnamese.org
On October 6, 2020, at 11:30 pm, Pham Doan Trang was arrested by Vietnamese state forces. She was subsequently charged with violating Article 88 of the 1999 Penal Code by “conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” and Article 117 of the 2015 Penal Code for “making, storing, spreading information, materials, items for the purpose of opposing the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”
Following her abduction, she has “been held incommunicado, denied visitation from her family and her lawyers, and she faces up to 20 years of imprisonment.”
Through their open letter, LIV hopes that Vice President Kamala Harris can help push the current state of Vietnamese media towards a freer and more inclusive environment where no journalist needs to fear oppression by their government.
LIV’s open letter on Pham Doan Trang, click here
For more information about Pham Doan Trang, click here
For news about the 88 Project’s open letter, click here.
To show your support for Pham Doan Trang, please consider signing this petition.
