From Le Huu Minh Tuan’s sister: please speak out forcefully for their release

On January 5, 2021, Le Huu Minh Tuan walked into a courtroom in Ho Chi Minh City, and, alongside two other independent journalists, was slammed with an 11-year prison sentence for conducting “propaganda against the State.” 

Before Tuan’s appeal trial, we talked to Le Thi Hoai Tam, the older sister of Le Huu Minh Tuan. Like many other families of political prisoners in Vietnam, they have faced harassment from the law enforcement to visit and send him necessities. Ms. Tam calls on the international community to speak out forcefully for the release of Tuan and members of the Independent Journalist Association. Please watch the full video of the interview to learn what is happening, and also to learn more about Tuan and his personality through the eyes of his sister and the family.

Trước phiên toàn phúc thẩm xét xử Tuấn, chúng tôi đã trao đổi với Lê Thị Hoài Tâm, chị gái của anh. Giống như nhiều gia đình của các tù nhân lương tâm ở Việt Nam, gia đình Tuấn cũng chịu đựng xách nhiễu từ chính quyền để thăm nuôi và gửi nhu yếu phẩm cho anh. Chị Tâm kêu gọi cộng đồng quốc tế hãy lên tiếng mạnh mẽ kêu gọi trả tự do cho Tuấn và các anh em Hội Nhà báo Độc lập. Hãy xem video phỏng vấn chị để tìm hiểu vụ việc, cũng như hiểu thêm về Tuấn, về tính cách của anh qua góc nhìn của chị Tâm cùng gia đình.

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Le Huu Minh Tuan, born 1989, is a member of the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam. He was arrested in June 2020 under Article 117 of the 2015 Criminal Code. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has ruled his arrest and detention were indeed arbitrary. Watch this video of Tuan, sharing his journey as an activist and motivations in his own words.