Vietnam Free Expression Newsletter No. 37/2024 — October 4-13

Greetings from Project88. We bring you news, analysis, and actions regarding human rights and civil society in Vietnam from Oct. 4-13.

Members of the U.S. Congress have called on Secretary of State Blinken to demand that Thailand not extradite Ede activist Y Quynh Bdap to Vietnam.

Blogger Duong Van Thai, who is believed to have been kidnapped from Thailand and forcibly returned to Vietnam eighteen months ago, will be tried on Oct. 30.

Authorities in Dak Lak Province have detained a Protestant activist. And a married couple has been arrested for “abusing democratic freedoms.”

Nguyen Thuy Hanh was released from prison after completing her sentence but remains under care for cancer. And one political prisoner has ended a 30-day hunger strike in Prison No. 6 in Nghe An, while in another section of the same prison, three other political prisoners remain on strike.

HUMAN RIGHTS & CIVIL SOCIETY

Le Trong Hung

Oct. 3 marked the end of Le Trong Hung‘s 30-day hunger strike at Prison No. 6 in Nghe A Province, his wife Do Le Na told Project88. This is Hung’s third annual hunger strike — a form of protest he stages once a year in protest of his conviction.

Dang Dinh Bach

A week prior, on Sept. 28, three other political prisoners in Section 1 of the same prison began a group hunger strike. Dang Dinh Bach, Bui Van Thuan and Trinh Ba Tu specifically called out two wardens — Thai Van Thuy and Nguyen Van Du, for what they allege are arbitrary and discriminatory practices against political prisoners. In a formal letter, Bach made a series of demands, including an end to “tiger cage” confinement that “devastates our physical and mental well-being.” Their former inmate Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, who was freed last month in a forced pardon, reported that the group had been held in the tiger cages since the spring.

Nguyen Thuy Hanh

Political prisoner Nguyen Thuy Hanh finished her 42-month sentence and was released on Oct. 7. In 2020, Hanh founded the 50K Fund, an initaitve to support the families of political prisoners. While in prison, she was constantly shuttled between a hospital to be treated for cancer and a psychiatric hospital for clinical depression. In her first public statement after her release, she stated that the cancer is not completely cured yet, and that her mental health is still fragile.

Duong Van Thai

Blogger Duong Van Thai, also known as Thai Van Duong, will be tried on Oct. 30, according to his mother. Thai was a refugee in Bangkok awaiting relocation to a third country when he was believed to be kidnapped by Vietnamese police and taken back to Vietnam in April 2023 to face “anti-state propaganda” charges under Article 117. Thai’s is not the first case of an extrajudicial return of a Vietnamese dissident from Thailand. In 2019, while journalist Truong Duy Nhat was in Thailand seeking political asylum, he was abducted by undercover Vietnamese police and brought back to Vietnam, where he was later sentenced to ten years in prison.

Y Quynh Bdap

Y Quynh Bdap, leader of Montagnards Stand For Justice (MSFJ), remains in a Thai jail after a Bangkok court found that his extradition is legal under Thai law. Vietnam is attempting to extradite him to face terrorism charges related to the Dak Lak uprising in June 2023. The ultimate decision whether or not to send him back, however, remains with the Thai government. Bdap’s lawyers have 30 days to file an appeal. The BBC Vietnamese has posted an in-depth analysis of this case from multiple legal and political angles, with statements from Bdap’s lawyer and others.

Members of the U.S. Congress have urged Secretary of State Blinken to intervene to stop Bdap’s extradition, saying: “Mr. Bdap has repeatedly and vigorously denied any involvement and the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders has confirmed there is no credible link between Mr. Bdap and the allegations. The Vietnamese government’s trumped-up terrorism charges serve to create fear and deter countries from offering resettlement to Mr. Y Quynh Bdap and his family. This is a clear case of transnational repression.”

The post on Mai Phan Loi’s account

Mai Phan Loi has reported that lawyer Hoang Ngoc Giao was released from prison. Giao, who was arrested in Dec. 2022 and later charged with tax evasion, was released at the same time as Hoang Thi Minh Hong and Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, just ahead of To Lam’s visit to the U.S. in late September. Giao directed the Institute for Research on Policy, Law and Development (PLD), a non-governmental organization of applied research, where he focused on issues of anti-corruption and transparency. He also provided commentary to international media about land policy and current events and joined in discussions on the GTV channel, founded by Mai Phan Loi. Loi, a journalist and press freedom advocate, was himself convicted of tax evasion and served over two years in prison before being released early in Sept. 2023.

Y Thinh Nie, a Protestant Montagnard in Dak Lak Province, has been detained since the first week of September without any warrant issued for his arrest. His wife, H’Le Mlo, told VOA that Y Thinh had been taken to the police station a few times before for questioning about his faith, but those detentions usually lasted only a few days.

A married couple in Phu Yen Province has been charged with “abusing democratic freedoms” based on Article 331 of the Criminal Code. Le Thi Hoa was detained on Oct. 4, while her husband Nguyen Van Trong was put under house arrest, for continuing to sue local officials over a land dispute. According to state media, between 2022 and the time of their arrest, the couple had filed 104 official complaints regarding the ownership of a 240 m2 plot of land in Son Hoa county.

A number of people have been arrested in recent weeks in what appears to be a sweep against members of the Provisional Government of Vietnam — a U.S. based group led by expat Dao Minh Quan — which is accused by Vietnam of being a terrorist organization.

• In Dong Nai Province: Nguyen Viet Tu (b. 1973) and Trinh Ba Hanh (1987)
• In Kien Giang Province: Tran Thi Hong Duyen (1984), her mother Bui Thi Anh Ngoc (1958), and Nguyen Ngoc Chau (1961)

 

VIETNAM IN THE WORLD

Vietnam upgrades ties with France to highest level. Reuters; 2024-10-08. Vietnam and France have officially upgraded their relations to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”, Vietnam’s highest level, during a visit by Vietnamese President To Lam to Paris. The move underlined Vietnam’s increasingly strategic role as an important link in global supply chains and is the latest success for its flexible foreign policy known as “bamboo diplomacy”. Lam and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed increasing security and defense cooperation, according to a joint statement released on Monday after the upgrade.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with General Secretary and President of Vietnam Tô Lâm. Prime Minister of Canada; 2024-10-05. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with the General Secretary and President of Vietnam, Tô Lâm. The Prime Minister and the President discussed the ongoing implementation of Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy and the Canada-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership. They underlined areas for enhanced co-operation, including regional security, climate change, clean energy, and sustainable development. Prime Minister Trudeau raised consular issues and the importance of advancing the promotion and protection of human rights. Both countries reiterated their commitment to the principle that disputes must be resolved peacefully and in accordance with the international law.

U.S., Vietnam Deepening Defense Cooperation. U.S. Department of Defense; 2024-10-10. Defense cooperation and shared security interests in Vietnam have been expanding, said Jedidiah P. Royal, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs.

Vietnam, China sign 10 deals including agri trade to payment as leaders meet. Reuters; 2024-10-13. Vietnam and China signed 10 agreements ranging from agriculture cooperation to cross-border QR code payments on Sunday, during Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s three-day visit to Hanoi, as the two neighbours seek to boost ties. China is Vietnam’s largest trading partner and a vital source of imports for its manufacturing sector, with bilateral trade jumping 21% for the first three quarters from the same period last year to $148 billion.

ADDITIONAL NEWS AND ANALYSIS

Japan’s eRex breaks ground on 2 more Vietnam biomass plants. Nikkei Asia; 2024-10-11. Japanese private power supplier eRex has started construction on two 50-megawatt biomass power plants in Vietnam with a target launch in 2027, the company said Thursday. There are plans to operate 18 biomass facilities by 2030 in the Southeast Asian country, where economic growth is lifting electricity demand.

Southeast Asia’s war on dissent captured in Malaysia-Cambodia extradition. South China Morning Post; 2024-10-13. On Thursday, Thailand secured a coveted spot on the United Nations Human Rights Council for a three-year term starting in January – a recognition Thai authorities have long sought, despite what critics call a deteriorating rights climate at home since a coup in 2014. The junta that seized power nearly a decade ago, and the military-aligned government that followed it, cracked down on dissent, leading to the arrest and conviction of numerous critics, particularly young pro-democracy activists. It also targeted dissidents who sought refuge in neighbouring countries, with Vietnam returning three wanted Thais in 2019. Since then, Thailand appears to have reciprocated, or at least turned a blind eye to, Vietnam’s extradition efforts.

© 2024 The 88 Project