Le My Hanh

Hanh is a democracy, human rights, and environmental activist. She reported on the 2016 Formosa environmental disaster. She also owns a business.

She was brutally attacked by pro-government thugs twice in 2017, once while live-streaming about the Formosa environmental disaster, and once when a group of people broke into her friend’s residence, where she was also staying. One person filmed the assault on Hanh and her friends and later posted it online with a threatening message. She was knocked unconscious in the second attack, and police tried to intimidate her into dropping the charges against the attackers afterwards.

After the second attack, twenty-one independent civil society organizations and 20 individuals issued a statement to voice their opposition to the repression of peaceful dissidents and the violence used against activists. An online petition, initiated by lawyer and former political prisoner Lê Công Định, asking the public authorities to launch criminal investigations and prosecutions against the attackers, received almost 3000 signatures within 24 hours.

In January 2019, Hanh was summoned to work with police three times within one week. The first time was January 24. She then received two other summons with the same content on January 29 and 30. In the summons orders, the investigation agency of Hanoi police requested her presence to work on a case of “conducting activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration."