11 writers from Vietnam are placed in the Writers at Risk Database. One of them is Luật Khoa’s co-founder and The Vietnamese co-editor Pham Doan Trang. Apart from her involvement with the online magazines, promoting human rights and the rule of law, she is also known as an author and independent publisher of several books on human rights and democracy.
In Vietnam, the number of detained writers jumped from 8 in 2019 to 11 in 2020. During 2020, Vietnamese authorities ramped up their targeting of individuals associated with professional literary and writing organizations. This included multiple arrests of writers associated with the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam (IJAVN), a civil society organization that advocates for press freedom consisting of writers, bloggers, and journalists. The IJAVN’s founding member and chairman Pham Chi Dung was detained in November 2019 and spent the entirety of 2020 behind bars,150 while several other core members of the IJAVN were detained or imprisoned during 2020, including three leading members of the association—Le Huu Minh Tuan, Pham Chi Thanh, and Nguyen Tuong Thuy—who were arrested and detained in May 2020. Pham Chi Thanh remains in pretrial detention as of this writing, while the other three have received prison sentences of over a decade each.151
In October 2020, authorities detained and arrested internationally recognized author and blogger Pham Doan Trang, hours after the conclusion of the 2020 U.S.-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue.152 A prolific author and leading member of independent Vietnamese-language publications, Trang is also the cofounder of the Liberal Publishing House, Vietnam’s only independent publishing house, from which she was forced to disassociate herself in July, after the Ministry of Public Security labeled her works “anti-state propaganda.”153 As a prominent figure who has written extensively on voting rights, her arrest appears to be part of a broader crackdown on free expression ahead of the 13th National Congress of the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP).154
“No one wants to sit in prison. But if prison is inevitable for freedom fighters, if prison can serve a pre-determined purpose, then we should happily accept it.”
Pham Doan Trang, “Just In Case I Am Imprisoned”
All five of these Vietnamese writers and public intellectuals were charged under Article 117 of Vietnam’s Penal Code, which criminalizes “making, storing, disseminating documents and materials for an anti-State purpose.”
Luật Khoa editor-in-chief Trinh Huu Long sits down with BBC News Tiếng Việt to share his thoughts on the delays by the Vietnamese government to come up with a law on protests.
The Vietnamese government continues to delay the Law on Protests due to “afraid of hostile forces to disrupt”. What dangers do people face and what should be done to protect their rights?
The Vietnamese government has just said that it has not yet proposed to include a number of bills, including the Law on Protests, into the law-making program for 2020 and 2021.
Analysts say that the real reason behind the decision to delay the Protest law for nearly 10 years was “to protect the regime”.
“In a less transparent environment like Vietnam, we hardly have an answer to the real reason for the delay. I can only surmise that this is purely a political issue, a safety issue. of the regime,” said Mr. Trinh Huu Long, jurist, editor-in-chief of Luat Khoa magazine, in an interview with BBC News Vietnamese on May 14.
Fear of arguments, fear of losing privileges
Activist Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh from the US told BBC News Vietnamese on May 13: “The Law on Protests is like a ball being kicked back and forth from the Government to the National Assembly to the Ministry of Public Security and the last reason. The last but most authentic announcement by the Ministry of Public Security has just been announced by the Ministry of Public Security that is fear of hostile forces taking advantage of it. With past experiences, related to student movement protests in Saigon before 1975. , the Communist Party understands better than anyone the concept of ‘taking advantage of protests’ to oppose the government, this is the biggest reason to delay the Law on Protests.”
From Taiwan, jurist, journalist, and editor-in-chief of Law Faculty Trinh Huu Long said that one of the reasons for delaying the publication of the draft Law on Protests by the Ministry of Public Security was fear of being publicly commented and opposed. defend.
Take pictures,
Trinh Huu Long (centre) at one of the 2011 summer protests
He analyzed: “According to the normal process, a bill that needs to be passed takes at least 2 sessions of the National Assembly, which means a year. First, they will submit to the National Assembly for comments at a session, Sooner or later, the law can be passed at the next session.In that year, the draft must be announced to the public, the National Assembly deputies must give opinions, the press will have to step in. not only the domestic press but also the international press. People will participate a lot, especially through social networks.”
“We can imagine that if the Ministry of Public Security and the Government submit the bill to the National Assembly, it will open up a huge discussion space. If we are the Government, we are the Communist Party of Vietnam, Do we want to open such a large playground that lasts a year for all participants?”, he added.
Activist Nguyen Trang Nhung analyzed: “When having substantive rights, people will exercise their rights, especially those who are interested in politics and society will speak out more, express their attitudes more than by protests. This puts pressure on government agencies, forcing the government to adjust existing policies and ways of working, which is what the government does not want.”
Take pictures,
People give flowers to traffic police during the Formosa 5/2016 protest at Ben Thanh market area, Ho Chi Minh City
“Not only have the right to protest, the Vietnamese people have long been restricted in many other human and civil rights. Government agencies always want to maintain that so that they can easily govern and act arbitrarily. act as they please. If there are laws now and the right to protest is exercised substantively, the government will lose its privileges. They can’t behave arbitrarily anymore.”
“If the promotion of these rights goes further, leading to multi-party, for example, then the Communist Party of Vietnam will no longer have a unique position,” added Ms. Trang Nhung.
Lawyer Trinh Huu Long said that the Ministry of Public Security and the Government do not want to lose their privilege, which is to “use law enforcement documents to control protests”.
In another aspect, Mr. Long also commented that the delay of the protest law is also related to the political life of the Minister of Public Security himself: “This is a pivotal period in preparing senior personnel before the Congress. Party. As one of the candidates for the top leadership positions, Minister To Lam will not risk introducing a bill that will cause a stir, which could affect his political chances.
What do people have to do?
Citing the fact that Vietnam does not have an independent court, an impartial and objective trial, it is difficult for the people to have tools to protect as well as the abuse of power by the executive side is difficult to control, lawyer Trinh Huu Long said: Because of the absence of such legal protection mechanisms, people who want to protect their rights have to resort to external mechanisms, such as international organizations and foreign governments. equally regrettable”.
“When the number of people who exercise and support the right to protest is large enough, then the behavior of the government will have to change, and change in a positive direction. The story lies in the correlation of power between the two. The people and the government We are talking about the law with an autocratic government, with people who completely disobey even the law, even the constitution they put in. This is not a legal story. law. It is a political story,” he analyzed.
“People, if they want their rights to be respected, have no choice but to persevere and courageously exercise their rights when necessary, not wait for the Ministry of Public Security, not the Government, no waiting for the National Assembly to grant me the right to protest.”
According to Mr. Long, people need to realize that “the right is in themselves, not in any law”. “Once we have enough people to exercise that right, we will change the situation,” he stressed.
According to Reporters without Borders (RSF), Vietnam has one of the world’s most repressive environments for journalists. A lot of high-profile arrests were made including 2019 RSF Press Freedom Prize for Impact laureate Pham Doan Trang who was charged with “anti-state propaganda.”
On April 24, Tran Thi Tuyet Dieu became the latest journalist to be jailed for daring to criticize Vietnam’s ruling communist party. Dieu was handed an eight year sentence for criticizing the party and advocating for democracy on social media. According to Reporters without Borders (RSF), Vietnam has one of the world’s most repressive environments for journalists, with only five countries scoring worse in the group’s latest annual report. These are difficult times for Vietnam’s independent journalists, and there is little cause for optimism.
The year 2020 saw a spate of high-profile arrests as six independent journalists were arrested. In October 2020, the authorities arrested human rights and democracy advocate Pham Doan Trang. Trang, who received the RSF Press Freedom Prize for Impact in 2019, was arrested on the day of the 24th annual U.S.-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue, in a blatant display of the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP)’s contempt for human rights. She was charged with publishing “propaganda” against the state, a loosely-defined term that is often used to lock-up critics of the regime.
The arrests are part of a deteriorating situation for free expression in Vietnam, with social media and online content coming under increasing scrutiny from online censors. In January 2019, the government passed a new cybersecurity law which demanded that technology companies hand over user data and enforce censorship. In April 2020, Facebook agreed to increase censorship of critical content after the government forced the company’s servers offline and restricted traffic to the site. Vietnam may be looking to create its own version of the Great Firewall of China, where content is scrupulously monitored and criticism of the regime is almost impossible. Although Vietnam is not currently powerful enough to do this, the approach it has taken so far suggests that in the long term it may well do so if it can.
Social media in Vietnam is extremely popular, with Facebook boasting around 66 million users, around two-thirds of the total population. Social media can be a forum for political debate, criticism, and the free exchange of political ideas, all concepts which are anathema to the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP). According to The 88 Project’s annual Human Rights report, 10 online commentators were arrested in 2020. These commentators had no links to civil society groups and were jailed solely for what they posted online.
The government would like social media to resemble an echo chamber of official party propaganda. To this end, it has recruited an army of online activists to promote party policy, harass critics, and monitor content for dissent. One favored tactic is to mass report critical content so it is removed by Facebook for breaching community guidelines. In November 2020, Reuters reported that Vietnam had threatened to shut down Facebook, despite the increased level of censorship that Facebook had enforced on the government’s behalf since the agreement in April. The VCP knows that Facebook is unlikely to pull out of such a lucrative market, and is sure to press for even more restrictions in the future.
These are worrying times. As leading journalists are arrested and social media becomes increasingly restricted, it is hard to remain optimistic about the future of independent journalism in Vietnam. Freedom of the press is essential to hold politicians to account, and to represent the interests of ordinary citizens. Activists and journalists have used social media to organize opposition to unpopular laws, campaign against corruption, and protest against environmental destruction. Although taking away this power from its citizens may serve the interests of the VCP, it is ordinary Vietnamese people who will suffer the consequences.
Luat Khoa and The Vietnamese editor Pham Doan Trang is part of One Free Press Coalition’s 10 “Most Urgent” press freedom cases this March 2020. The coalition of press and media companies hopes to use their collective voices to give awareness, strike conversations and “stand up for journalists under attack for pursuing the truth.”
IN MAY 2019, WIRED joined the One Free Press Coalition, a united group of preeminent editors and publishers using their global reach and social platforms to spotlight journalists under attack worldwide. Today, the coalition is issuing its eighth monthly “10 Most Urgent” list of journalists whose press freedoms are being suppressed or whose cases demand justice.
Here’s March 2020’s list, ranked in order of urgency:
8. Pham Doan Trang (Vietnam) Journalist in hiding to evade arrest continues reporting. Phan Doan Trang has been in hiding since August 2018, after Ho Chi Minh City police brutally beat her and confiscated her national ID card, on top of silencing measures including interrogation, monitoring and shutting off her internet and electricity. A colleague reports that Trang, cofounder of The Vietnamese and Luat Khoa news publications, has not fully recuperated from the assault and her health has deteriorated. While moving between safe houses, she has continued critical reporting on the environment, freedom of religion and online civil society.
The One Free Press Coalition is comprised of over 30 prominent international members including: Al Jazeera Media Network; AméricaEconomía; The Associated Press; Bloomberg News; The Boston Globe; BuzzFeed; CNN Money Switzerland; Corriere Della Sera; De Standaard; Deutsche Welle; Estadão; EURACTIV; The Financial Times; Forbes; Fortune; HuffPost; India Today; Insider Inc.; Le Temps; Middle East Broadcasting Networks; NHK; Office of Cuba Broadcasting; Quartz; Radio Free Asia; Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty; Republik; Reuters; The Straits Times; Süddeutsche Zeitung; TIME; TV Azteca; Voice of America; The Washington Post; WIRED; Yahoo News.
One Free Press Coalition partners with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) to identify the most urgent cases for the list, which is updated and published on the first business day of every month.
One Free Press Coalition is a united group of 38 distinguished media brands using their global reach and platforms to spotlight journalists under attack worldwide. Pham Doan Trang, co-founder of Luat Khoa and The Vietnamese, is listed as one of the “most urgent” press freedom cases that need to be addressed immediately.
The One Free Press Coalition, a united group of 38 pre-eminent media brands using their global reach and platforms to spotlight journalists under attack worldwide, today observed its one-year anniversary of the organization’s inception. To date, the Coalition has played an important role in successfully advocating for 50 individuals, supporting in the release of 10 journalists featured on their monthly “10 Most Urgent” lists, most recently Sophia Xueqin Huang, who was released from prison in January after being jailed while covering the extended unrest in Hong Kong.
By bringing attention to this, the One Free Press Coalition has sparked critical conversations globally, with more than 19,000 mentions of the initiative on social media, totaling 1.17 billion total potential impressions globally.
“In the one year since we established the One Free Press Coalition, we have used the collective voices of our partners and members to shine a bright light on journalists worldwide whose press freedoms and personal liberties are under assault,” said Randall Lane, Chief Content Officer, Forbes and Founding Member of the One Free Press. “We’re proud to have played a role in bringing attention to the plights of 56 journalists – whose cases we highlighted in our monthly ‘10 Most Urgent’ list – as we continue to fight for and secure justice. A free press is a vital and indispensable institution to the proper functioning of society everywhere.”
Published this morning at www.onefreepresscoalition.com and by all Coalition members, including new pledge Agencia EFE, the 13th 10 Most Urgent list includes the following journalists, ranked in order of urgency:
Journalist in hiding to evade arrest continues reporting.
Phan Doan Trang has been in hiding since August 2018, after Ho Chi Minh City police brutally beat her and confiscated her national ID card, on top of silencing measures including interrogation, monitoring and shutting off her internet and electricity. A colleague reports that Trang, cofounder of The Vietnamese and Luat Khoa news publications, has not fully recuperated from the assault and her health has deteriorated. While moving between safe houses, she has continued critical reporting on the environment, freedom of religion and online civil society.
Time Magazine has joined in the call to prioritize the “10 Most Urgent” press freedom cases. Pham Doan Trang, co-founder of The Vietnamese and Luat Khoa is one of the 10 international journalists under attack.
Phan Doan Trang has been in hiding since August 2018, after Ho Chi Minh City police brutally beat her and confiscated her national ID card, on top of silencing measures including interrogation, monitoring and shutting off her internet and electricity. A colleague reports that Trang, cofounder of The Vietnamese and Luat Khoa news publications, has not fully recuperated from the assault and her health has deteriorated. While moving between safe houses, she has continued critical reporting on the environment, freedom of religion and online civil society.
Pham Doan Trang, co-founder of The Vietnamese and Luat Khoa magazines, is listed as one of the 10 international journalists, whose press freedom case is classified as “Most Urgent” by the One Free Press Coalition.
The last thing journalists seek when they go behind the scenes of a story is to end up behind bars. But for many reporters, harsh interrogation, wrongful arrest, and brutal assault are all possible realities of doing one’s job.
Even today, as the world is in the midst of a coronavirus outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China, journalists who have reported on the situation have been punished for doing so. Chen Qiushi, a video journalist who revealed that hospitals in China were struggling to deal with the virus, has not been seen since Feb. 6. Meanwhile, three other journalists, who wrote an opinion piece regarding the crisis, have been expelled by the Chinese government.
When it comes to fighting a virus that has threatened public health, caused profits to plummet, and hit global markets hard, cracking down on free press does nothing to address the crisis at hand and only puts more people’s lives at risk. That’s only one of the reasons why Fortune remains committed to fighting for fellow journalists—and why publishing this monthly list of the “10 Most Urgent” press freedom cases is a moral imperative.
The One Free Press Coalition (OFPC) compiles the list (below), in partnership with the Center for Press Justice (CPJ) and the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF). This month marks one year of these organizations’ efforts to circulate their list. While some journalists have received justice since appearing on these lists, other cases remain unresolved, and new cases continue to arise. (You can read last month’s list here.)
Journalist in hiding to evade arrest continues reporting. Phan Doan Trang has been in hiding since August 2018, after Ho Chi Minh City police brutally beat her and confiscated her national ID card, on top of silencing measures including interrogation, monitoring and shutting off her internet and electricity. A colleague reports that Trang, cofounder of The Vietnamese and Luat Khoa news publications, has not fully recuperated from the assault and her health has deteriorated. While moving between safe houses, she has continued critical reporting on the environment, freedom of religion and online civil society.
Luật Khoa magazine editor Pham Doan Trang is also one of the authors of the Dong Tam Attack Report, a 28-page document forwarded to international human rights organizations and delivered to the office of a US Congressman. In this interview, Ms. Pham shares their basis for coming up with the document and what they hope to achieve.
Phạm Đoan Trang : “Vụ việc này đầy khuất tất từ phía chính quyền. Điểm đáng nói đầu tiên là về cái chết của ba sĩ quan công an. Công an nói có ba chiễn sĩ hy sinh, bị quân khủng bố phóng hỏa, giết. Trên mạng có những bức ảnh cho thấy thi thể của ba người này chỉ còn là than. Bản báo cáo về vụ Đồng Tâm chỉ ra rằng, bình thường cơ thể con người, để thành tro cháy gần hết như vậy cần mất khoảng ba hay bốn tiếng. Không có lý gì lực lượng công an để đồng đội của họ cháy trong ba tiếng đồng hồ mà không dập lửa. Cũng như là bom xăng, một chai xăng mà đơn vị đo là 0,65 lít thì không thể gây ra một vụ cháy kinh hoàng như vậy. Tường nhà thì không ám khói, không có dấu vết của một vụ hỏa hoạn. Điểm đáng ngờ thứ hai liên quan đến cái chết của cụ Kình. Cụ bị giết thế nào ? Ai giết ? Tại sao lại bị mổ tử thi ? Biên bản khám nghiệm tử thi ấy đâu ?
Điểm thứ ba là cáo buộc của chính quyền nói cụ Kình và gia đình, dân Đồng Tâm là khủng bố, tàng trữ vũ khí. Vậy chính quyền đã biết chuyện những người dân Đồng Tâm tàng trữ vũ khí -nếu có, từ thời điểm nào ? Nếu biết từ trước tại sao không xử lý đúng quy trình tố tụng ? Thí dụ như thông báo trước, thậm chí có thể đến vây hãm, yêu cầu đầu hàng. Nhưng ít nhất phải chờ đến khi bên trong có động thái, thí dụ như bắt con tin, hay đe dọa sát hại con tin trong nhà thì mới có thể tấn công. Nếu như họ vẫn ở trong nhà và cố thủ thì vẫn phải đợi. Bạo lực chỉ là biện pháp cuối cùng. Ngoài ra còn có vấn đề những người khác bị bắt, bị ép cung, tra tấn. Dấu hiệu rõ ràng là nếu chỉ đánh nhau bình thường, mặt không thể có những vết bỏng. Không thể có những vết cháy trên mặt. Đó là dấu vết của sự tra tấn rất rõ”.
Mục đích báo cáo về vụ Đồng Tâm là gì ?
Phạm Đoan Trang : “Chúng tôi nhận thấy rằng, từ trước đến giờ, trong tất cả những sự kiện tương tự hoàn toàn nhà nước độc quyền phát ngôn. Trong vụ Đồng Tâm, câu chuyện đến một mức quá xa, nghĩa là nhà nước không chỉ phát ngôn mà còn đàn áp thẳng cánh những người cung cấp thông tin. Trong một tuần lễ, tôi biết có ít nhất ba người bị công an bắt vì đã đưa tin trái chiều về Đồng Tâm. Đưa tin và quan điểm về Đồng Tâm. Thậm chí chỉ chia sẻ bài trên Facebook. Bài có nội dung trái với những gì truyền thông nhà nước đã đưa. Cho nên chúng tôi quyết định, trong một thời gian cực ngắn, chỉ 2 ngày, để làm báo cáo đó.
Chúng tôi muốn là có một nguồn thông tin tham khảo dành cho cộng đồng quốc tế cũng như là cho người trong nước. Chúng tôi mong muốn vấn đề sẽ được quốc tế hóa, được cộng đồng quốc tế, các chính phủ, những nước dân chủ và các tổ chức quốc tế về nhân quyền như Human Rights Watch hay Amnesty International, lên tiếng, gây sức ép buộc chính quyền Việt Nam cho phép điều tra độc lập, hoặc thừa nhận tội lỗi của mình. Hay ít nhất là giảm án, bảo vệ những người đã bị bắt. Hiện giờ những người chưa bị bắt, những nhân chứng còn sống sót bị đe dọa khủng bố rất kinh hoàng”.
Full Transcription in English:
Pham Doan Trang:“This case is full of uncertainty from the government side. The first point worth mentioning is about the deaths of three police officers. The police said that three soldiers died, were set on fire and killed by terrorists. Online there are The photos show that the bodies of these three people are reduced to coal.The report on the Dong Tam incident indicates that, normally, the human body, to burn most of the ash, takes about three or four hours. There is no reason for the police force to let their comrades burn for three hours without putting out the fire.Like a petrol bomb, a bottle of gasoline that measures 0.65 liters cannot cause a fire. The house was so horrifying, the walls of the house were not covered with smoke, there was no trace of a fire. The second point of suspicion concerns the death of Mr. Kinh. How was he killed? Who killed? Why was he operated on? Where’s the autopsy report?
The third point is the government’s accusation that Kinh and his family and people in Dong Tam are terrorists and possess weapons. So the government knew about the Dong Tam people’s possession of weapons – if so, when? If you knew in advance, why didn’t you handle the proceedings properly? For example, advance notice, maybe even siege, requesting surrender. But at least you have to wait until there is an action inside, such as taking hostages, or threatening to kill hostages in the house, before you can attack. If they were still at home and entrenched, they would still have to wait. Violence is only a last resort. There is also the issue of others being arrested, forced to surrender, tortured. The obvious sign is that if it’s just a normal fight, the face can’t have burns. There can be no burn marks on the face. It’s a very clear mark of torture.”
What is the purpose of reporting on the Dong Tam case?
Pham Doan Trang : “We have found that, in all similar events, the state has completely monopolized the speech. In the Dong Tam case, the story goes too far, that is, the state. In a week, I know at least three people were arrested by the police for reporting conflicting information about Dong Tam. Tam. Even just shared the article on Facebook. It had content that was contrary to what the state media had reported, so we decided, in a very short time, just 2 days, to do that report.
We want to be a reference source for the international community as well as for local people. We hope the issue will be internationalized, voiced by the international community, governments, democratic countries and international human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International. Vietnamese authorities allow independent investigation, or admit guilt. Or at least reduce the sentence, protect those who have been arrested. Now for those who have not been arrested, the surviving witnesses are facing terror threats.”
Force 47 also known as Vietnam’s cyber armies under the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) hacks anti-government websites and asserts its control over online content by spreading pro-government messages in order to stamp out any form of dissent.
As Vietnamese searched for more information about what happened in Dong Tam a week ago, some Facebook users reported receiving the message online: “Due to legal requirements in your country, we have restricted access to your profile on Facebook. This means that other people in your country cannot see your profile, and may not be able to interact with you over Messenger.”
Vietnam has a population of 96 million. With more than 60 million Facebook users, it is the platform’s one of the fastest-growing markets.
Reporters Without Borders ranks Vietnam near the bottom of its 2019 World Press Freedom Index at 176 out of 180 countries listed [Luong Thai Linh/EPA]
“Facebook is the main source of independent news now in Vietnam,” said Trinh Huu Long, a co-founder of Legal Initiatives for Vietnam.
“The government has been working with Facebook to try to control content posted by dissidents and independent voices,” he added.
Searches for protests in Hong Kong have also been affected. Many, like Anh Chi, blame the cybersecurity law for the filtered information.
“They know people in Vietnam are active on social media, and they follow the news, especially with what’s happening in Hong Kong every day,” he said. “The government fears that one day people in Vietnam will join such protests.”
In Vietnam, illegal copying and distribution of books are banned by the government. Liberal Publishing House publishes and distributes books Vietnam’s government does not wants its citizens to read.
The government has long censored and controls its media and publishing industries and imposed tight restrictions on them.
The Law on Publishing prohibits “propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,” the “spread of reactionary ideology” and “the disclosure of secrets of the [Communist] Party, State, military, defence, economics, or external relations.”
Liberal Publishing House has published 11 books from eight authors during the past year on politically sensitive topics including China’s role in Vietnam and controversial legislation on Special Economic Zones. It has also released a legal handbook for jailed activists.
It is the first Samizdat in Vietnam to launch a website and Facebook page.
“We have tens of thousands of readers despite police repression and state censorship,” Ha said. “Many of them are members of the Communist Party.”
There is no way to verify these claims, but in October, Vietnamese authorities cracked down on Liberal Publishing House, its distribution network and readers.
In November, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch released a joint statement calling for an end to the intimidation and harassment of people either associated with the publisher’s activities or trying to obtain copies of Samizdat books.
By printing books they can make independent information look professional and legitimate to readers. If (readers) can hold it in their hands they trust it more.
BY TRINH HUU LONG, CO-FOUNDER, LEGAL INITIATIVES FOR VIETNAM.
According to Amnesty International’s Vietnam campaign team, police have questioned nearly 100 people for either owning or reading books printed by Liberal Publishing House.
“They know how dangerous and damaging [Samizdat publishing] is to their regime,” said Trinh Huu Long, a democracy activist and co-founder of Legal Initiatives for Vietnam.
“By printing books, they can make independent information look professional and legitimate to readers. If they can hold it in their hands they trust it more. It’s valuable.”
