Bui Tuan Lam

Immediate Concerns

September 2024:

Bui Tuan Lam‘s wife, Le Thanh Lam, told Project88 that her husband was generally doing well at Xuan Loc Prison. During their short 10-minute phone conversation, she told Lam about the release of Tran Huynh Duy Thuc ahead of To Lam’s visit to the U.S. and he expressed his admiration for Thuc’s work. Bui Tuan Lam was also pleased to learn that exiled human rights lawyer Dang Dinh Manh held up a large photo of him at a rally in front of the United Nations building in New York (where To Lam was attending a summit) calling on To Lam to unconditionally release Onion Bae and all political prisoners.

February 2024:

Bui Tuan Lam's wife is allegedly being targeted and economically harassed by police. Le Thanh Lam told Project88 that they came to her house where she was selling homemade snacks and confiscated her dried jackfruit and seaweed products. Ever since her husband was arrested, Thanh Lam has had to resort to making and selling knick-knacks to support herself and their three daughters. She said she only discovered afterwards that the woman who ordered her goods “was planted” by the police.

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Update: Le Thanh Lam told Project88 that she has been constantly “invited” to talk with the Danang police for “speaking out on my husband’s behalf” on social media. Bui Tuan Lam, aka Onion Bae, is serving five-and-a-half years in prison in Dong Nai Province, hundreds of miles from Danang, for spreading “anti-state propaganda.” The police summoned Thanh Lam to the police station before she made the last trip to visit her husband in January; then they summoned her again right after she returned. Raising three young girls on her own, Thanh Lam says she’s been struggling to survive by selling homemade snacks because lately the police have been confiscating her goods, saying it’s against the law to sell food without a license. 

November 2023:

Bui Tuan Lam told his family during their most recent visit that the reason he was transferred from Hoa Son Prison in Danang Province to Xuan Loc Prison in Dong Nai Province in September was because on Aug. 30 he protested that he was taken to court for his appeal trial without being given any prior notice. Despite his protest, he was forcibly brought to court anyway. After the trial, he alleges that prison guards shackled his legs and put him in solitary confinement for seven days and seven nights.

October 2023:

Bui Tuan Lam has been transferred from Hoa Son Prison, in Danang, to an unknown location. His wife told Project88 that when she went to visit her husband she was told by prison guards that “a vehicle from the Ministry [of Security] came to take him last Saturday night” and that they didn’t know where he was being taken. Punitive prison transfers are common in Vietnam, where many families allege that the act is done to isolate and punish political prisoners by making it harder for their families to visit them.

Update:

Bui Tuan Lam has been transferred to Xuan Loc Prison in Dong Nai province. According to his wife, Le Thanh Lam, Tuan Lam called home on Oct. 27 to say he was in good health and was looking forward to seeing her and their three daughters at the next visit. 

Earlier in the month:

Two months after Bui Tuan Lam’s appeal trial, he still hasn’t been allowed to see his wife and children. Le Thanh Lam, his wife, said she’s been sending visitation requests for over a month but has not heard back from the authorities. Her request to meet the warden directly has also been ignored. Thanh Lam told Project 88 her husband said he was “disciplined” in September for unknown reasons.

September 2023:

Le Thanh Lam, the wife of noodle seller Bui Tuan Lam, told Project 88 that her husband is being held at Hoa Son detention center in Danang. When she went to visit him on Sept. 6, she was told Lam was being “disciplined” and could not have visitors. She filed a request for an official explanation.

August 2023:

Bui Tuan Lam’s appeal trial resulted in no change to his five-and-half-year sentence. Nicknamed “Onion Bae,” Lam was known for imitating famous chef “Salt Bae” at his noodle shop by sprinkling onion instead of salt. He was charged with “anti-state propaganda.” In his closing statement, a defiant Lam told the court: “I don’t like the Communist Party because I love Vietnam. CPV leaders are not leading Vietnam, they are lording over the Vietnamese people.” According to Lam’s wife, his lawyer, Le Dinh Viet, was not allowed to see his client before the trial.

Ahead of the appeal trial, his family told Project 88 that security police posted guards around their home since Aug. 28 and were taking pictures and videos of their movements and activities.

May 2023:

Bui Tuan Lam, aka Onion Bae the noodle seller, was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for spreading “anti-state propaganda” in a supposedly open trial that his parents and wife were prevented from attending. Lam’s wife reported on her Facebook page that she was under surveillance for days beforehand and had to sneak out of the house at night, three days before the trial, in order to evade secret police.

Le Thanh Lam said after she had checked into a hotel, non-uniformed individuals repeatedly came to harass hotel staff and the manager. She had to go to another hotel to avoid trouble. When she finally made it to the courthouse with Lam’s lawyers, the guards did not let her in. As she and Lam’s parents waited outside, they were watched and filmed by plainclothes individuals.

After the trial finished around noon, Lam reported that a policeman named Dang Cong Cam (badge 350-259) attacked her. He and several others dragged her to the ground and then threw her into a police van. She also saw Lam’s two brothers being beaten by the police. All three were taken to the Hoa Cuong Bac People’s Committee Office, where she was body searched, verbally abused, and held for hours without any food.

The police took her phone and repeatedly tried to force her to unlock it with both fingerprint and facial recognition, but she refused to cooperate. They tried to get her to sign a police report but she refused to do so. She was not released until 6 p.m..

April 2023:

Le Thanh Lam, Bui Tuan Lam's wife, the noodle seller and activist known for imitating Salt Bae, told Project 88 that her husband still has not been able to talk to a lawyer since his arrest in September 2022. Le Thanh Lam also said that on April 6 she received the notice that the Investigative Agency had finished its work. However, as of April 12, his lawyers had not received any information regarding the indictment. Then on April 18 she was notified that Lam had “refused to have legal representation.” However, Le Thanh Lam said that at the time of his arrest, Lam instructed her specifically to hire lawyers for him. When she went to the Procuracy office to inquire about this on April 20, they refused to give her an answer and referred her to the Hanoi People’s Court instead.

Background

Bui Tuan Lam runs a beef noodle stall in Danang city. He was previously a human rights and democracy activist but inactive at the time of his arrest.

Profile photo source: VN Express

History of Activism

On November, 2021, Lam posted a video on his Facebook account in which he imitated Turkish celebrity chef Nusret Gökçe, or "Salt Bae,” who had recently hand-fed a pricey chunk of gold-coated steak at his London restaurant to Vietnam’s Minister of Public Security, To Lam. Several days later he was summoned by police.

According to the Public Security of Danang City, since 2013, Bui Tuan Lam has regularly posted and shared content online that insulted the honor and reputation of the government and party leaders. His Facebook account has more than 12,000 followers. He also runs a YouTube channel named "Thánh Rắc Hành" with 15,000 followers where he shares his social and political views and has supported political prisoners like Pham Doan Trang. Also, he blogged about his charity trips. 

Lam has participated in a training course on "civil society" and "nonviolent resistance.” He engaged in the UPR mechanism in 2014; upon his return, he was interrogated at the airport and his passport was confiscated.

Lam is known as a member of several state blacklisted civil society organisations, including No-U Football Club- Hanoi and Con Duong Viet Nam. 

Family Situation

He is married and has three children.