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Tag: UCA News

  • LIV’s Trinh Huu Long and Pham Doan Trang in UCA News: Jailed Vietnam journalist wins top human rights award

    Legal Initiatives for VIETNAM co-director Trinh Huu Long confirms the Martin Ennals Awards given to his close colleague Pham Doan Trang, is a strong and clear message to the oppressive Vietnamese government that what she is doing is right, and the international community supports her cause.

    Excerpt:

    A jailed Vietnamese journalist has been recognized with a top human rights award.

    On Jan. 19, the Martin Ennals Foundation named Pham Doan Trang, Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja of Bahrain and Dr. Daouda Diallo of Burkina Faso as winners of the 2022 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders.

    The Geneva-based foundation said the three laureates worked as driving forces of the human rights movement and inspired many more to commit themselves to protect human rights.

    It said Trang, who was sentenced to nine years in jail last month for conducting anti-state propaganda, is a leading journalist, editor and democracy advocate in Vietnam, where the Communist Party has left little room for opposition voices to flourish.

    The 43-year-old activist founded several independent media outlets to raise awareness among citizens of their fundamental rights, galvanizing many other journalists and human rights defenders to speak up.

    Trinh Huu Long, one of her closest colleagues, said: “The Martin Ennals Award is a strong and clear message to the Vietnamese authoritarian government, and, more importantly, to the Vietnamese people, that what she’s been doing is right and the international community is standing by her.”

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  • Pham Doan Trang in Union of Catholic Asian News: Vietnam jails its most famous human rights activist

    UCA discloses how Pham Doan Trang is a “woman of freedom” and summarizes her works on defending human rights and freedom in Vietnam.

    Excerpt:

    Well-known human rights activist and dissident journalist Pham Doan Trang has been sentenced to nine years in jail for “conducting propaganda against the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”

    The People’s Court of Hanoi City on Dec. 14 convicted her on charges that included giving interviews to foreign newspapers and publishing reports on marine pollution and religious violations in Vietnam.

    Trang, who won the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Prize for Impact in 2019, was arrested in October 2020 in Ho Chi Minh City, just a few hours after the annual human rights dialogue between the United States and Vietnam.

    The activist is the founder of Luatkhoa.org, an online magazine that specializes in providing legal information. Before her arrest, she was an editor of Thevietnamese.org, which assists Vietnamese citizens to defend their rights in the communist-run country.

    Lawyer Mieng said during a meeting with the lawyers at the No. 1 Prison before the trial, Trang told him that she always prays for the nation and all people to be in love, good health and peace although she does not follow any religion. She sent her warm regards to other activists and friends.

    Pham Thanh Nghien, a rights activist and Trang’s close friend, said she was sentenced to nine years in prison for daring to speak up for freedom and truth.

    “Those who have dared to commit themselves to freedom are always liberals even in prison. Pham Doan Trang is always a woman of freedom,” Nghien said.

    Trang reportedly told the jury that the longer the sentence, the more they prove the dictatorial and anti-democratic nature of the Vietnam government.

    “You can put me in jail and crow that you have erased a thorn in your eyes, but you will never be able to erase the bad reputation, dictatorship and anti-democracy. As beasts are forever animals, they can never become human,” she said.

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    Vietnam jails its most famous human rights activist UCA News
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