Y Pher Hdrue

Y Pher Hdrue is an Ede human rights defender who fights for land rights and religious freedom for ethnic minority groups in Vietnam. Y Pher has been harassed and persecuted for years because of his peaceful activism.

From 2001- 2004, the Montagnards and minority groups in the Central Highlands demonstrated against land grabs and religious persecution by the Vietnamese government. As one of the leaders who called for protests, Y Pher has been targeted. He told Project88 that he was been arrested in 2001, 2002, and 2004, respectively. 

Y Pher said he was released after three days of detention each time but convicted in 2004 and sentenced to 12 years for “undermining the unity policy.” During his prison time, Y Pher used a mobile phone to send out updates on the harsh living conditions of prisoners and allegations of torture in Nam Ha prison. This act of defiance led to his second sentence of another year and nine months, resulting in a total sentence length of 13 years and nine months. In 2015, he was released two years earlier than expected. 

Since his release, Y Pher has continued his activism by collecting evidence of human rights violations and reporting them to international organizations. In 2017, he was once again detained, and the Vietnamese government accused him of being a member of FULRO (United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races), a long-defunct Montagnard resistance army.  

Although Y Pher was freed after three days of interrogation, fearing being re-arrested and that the sentence length could be another decade, he fled Vietnam to Thailand seeking refugee status. Y Pher and his family are undergoing Refugee Status Determination under the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.