Duong Van Thai

Current Status: Sentenced to prison

Date of Birth:

Gender: M

Occupation: Blogger

Known Prison(s):
An Diem prison, Dai Loc district, Quang Nam province (December 28, 2024 - present)
Prison No. 6, Nghe An province (Unknown - Unknown)

Details

March 2025

Trinh Ba Phuong's wife, Do Thi Thu, together with journalist Duong Van Thai's mother, Mrs. Lu, went to An Diem Prison to visit their loved ones on March 3. Thu reported that both men appeared healthy.

February 2025

Duong Van Thai's mother was finally able to visit him at at An Diem prison after several attempts to get the authorities to confirm that he was indeed her son. Duong Thi Lu, 76, was assisted by Do Thi Thu, the wife of political prisoner Trinh Ba Phuong, in filing the paperwork and pushing the local government to respond.

January 2025

Duong Van Thai was moved from temporary detention to An Diem Prison in Quang Nam Province on Dec. 28 to begin serving his 12-year sentence. Thai did not file an appeal.

October 2024

Blogger Duong Van Thai was tried on Oct. 30 and given a 12-year sentence plus three years of probation for engaging in “anti-state propaganda” based on Section 2 of Article 117 of the Criminal Code. Section 2 applies to activities deemed “especially dangerous” and may carry a prison sentence between 10 to 20 years. A former blogger for RFA, Thai was a UN refugee in Thailand awaiting relocation to a third country when he mysteriously disappeared in April 2023. A few weeks later, he was shown by state media to be in police custody in Vietnam. The government claimed that Thai was trying to enter Vietnam illegally but did not provide any proof. A spokesperson for the Department of State said the U.S. is deeply concerned about Thai’s “harsh sentence” and troubled by allegations that he was abducted. See also:

Vietnam: RSF appalled by 12-year prison sentence handed on journalist kidnapped in Thailand. Reporters Without Borders; 2024-10-30.

Vietnam: Quash Verdict Against Democracy Campaigner. Human Rights Watch; 2024-10-30.

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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.