Pham Thanh Nghien

In the early morning of January 8, the authorities carried out their land-grabbing for the second day at Loc Hung vegetable garden, Ward 6, Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City.

A house of former political prisoners Pham Thanh Nghien and Huynh Anh Tu was destroyed on this day. The couple just completed building their new house in Loc Hung with their ten-year savings, only to see that house destroyed a week after. Pham Thanh Nghien managed to leave to bring her one-year-old daughter to a safe place thanks to a friend’s support, while Huynh Anh Tu stayed behind and witnessed the destruction of their house at 4:25 pm.

Tu and Nghien’s family is now in a particularly precarious situation: as a former refugee in Thailand and long-term political prisoner, Huynh Anh Tu does not have any identification papers, so they are unable to rent. Nghien and Tu’s toddler has asthma and they need a home with electricity for her to have access to a functioning nebulizer aspirator.

Note: Loc Hung vegetable garden is a six-hectare area that belongs to the Catholic Church of Vietnam in Ward 6, District Tan Binh, Ho Chi Minh City. That area has been in dispute between the local government and the households for nearly twenty years. The authorities prevented the Loc Hung residents from legalizing their land use right even though the residents have valid documents to support their claim.

The negotiation ended with the first forced eviction on January 4, destroying around 10 houses by a powerful force, including police, civil defense forces, and volunteer youth, with equipment such as bulldozers and firetrucks. After the second day of land-grabbing on January 8, 2019, all 112 houses were totally destroyed.

Please read more on the land-grabbing at Loc Hung vegetable garden, here.

Former political prisoner Pham Thanh Nghien, currently residing in Ho Chi Minh City, was told by her family in Hai Phong (North Vietnam) that on July 26, Hai Phong police came to tell them that she had been summoned to go  to Hanoi on July 28 to answer questions regarding Nguyen Thuy Hanh, founder of the 50K Fund, who was arrested earlier this year. 

Hanoi police said they found a book by Nghien — Tales Behind Bars — at Thuy Hanh’s house. It is not clear what that had to do with Nghien, or why Hanoi police did not request that the Ho Chi Minh City police contact her directly. Nghien was unlikely to be able to comply with the summons, as both areas were in lockdown from COVID-19 at the time of the summons.