Doan Bao Chau
Đoàn Bảo Châu
Current Status: At risk
Date of Birth: November 2, 1968
Gender: M
Ethnicity: Kinh
Occupation: Journalist
Citizen: Y
Citizenship Status: Citizen (by birth, descent)
Human Rights Defender: Y
Activist Focus:
- Defense of HRDs
- Political change
- Freedom of expression
- Sovereignty
Details
Doan Bao Chau is a Vietnamese journalist, interpreter, human rights defender, and Karate Do master. From 1995 to 1999, Chau worked as a journalist for the Vietnam Investment Review. Since then, he has worked as a freelance contributor and photographer for international news agencies and magazines, including the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, the New York Times, Forbes, and National Geographic. He was one of the New York Times’ principal photographers in Vietnam from 2001-2009, and, more recently, has co-written numerous articles on Vietnam. Chau’s articles for the New York Times can be viewed here, and his work for AFP can be viewed here.
In addition to his journalistic work, Chau also worked as a simultaneous interpreter for twenty years. As part of this work, he interpreted for five different United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime UNODC conferences. Finally, Chau has written six novels. One of the novels, Miền Nhớ, could only be published in the United States, because it was about the human rights implications of land reform in Vietnam. For that reason, he was not permitted to publish it in the country.
Chau has also been a strong advocate for Vietnamese human rights defenders, political prisoners, and imprisoned journalists. Some of his writing in Vietnamese can be accessed here. One of Chau's most recent articles in Tieng Dan Newspaper before his interrogation was about the recent arrest of Truong Huy San, aka Huy Duc, a prominent Vietnamese journalist. In addition to his work for media outlets, Chau posts interviews about the human rights situation in Vietnam on Facebook, covering topics such as prison conditions, land grabs by the government, and environmental degradation. Chau posts most of these interviews and critiques on his Facebook page, which has more than 152,000 followers.
Outside of his work as a journalist, Chau has also engaged in fundraising for families of political prisoners and for Ukrainian victims of Russia’s invasion. Chau organized a fundraiser in Hanoi that was attended by the Ukrainian Ambassador to Vietnam. According to Chau, local police asked him to stop the event, but he refused.
Chau told Project88 that he first experienced harassment from Vietnamese security forces in 2000 after he worked for the Orange County Register as an interpreter for interviews with dissidents, such as Dr. Nguyen Thanh Giang, Hoang Minh Chinh, and General Tran Do. Chau told Project88 that because of this work, the Vietnamese government banned him from taking photos for foreign media for over a year. Over the next twenty years, however, he does not recall experiencing further harassment.
According to Chau, this changed about four years ago. At that time, Vietnamese authorities set up a camera to surveil his house, Chau told Project88. In addition, starting around the same time, local police began to pay him regular visits, asking him to take down or edit Facebook posts or videos. Police also called his wife, threatening to harm her business if Chau refused to take down or edit certain Facebook posts.
At the same time, Chau was targeted for criticism by Vietnam’s state-run media. In 2020, state media criticized Chau for calling imprisoned journalist Pham Doan Trang courageous and noble. In 2021, state media condemned a post Chau made on Reunification Day, alleging that Chau’s post sowed division and stood against national reconciliation. And, in 2022, Chau was accused of posting information about the government’s anti-corruption campaign that “distorted the truth.” Despite this harassment, Chau did not think he was at serious risk of arrest.
Resources:
Personal communication and information provided by Doan Bao Chau in June and July 2024.
Articles published by Doan Bao Chau, Báo Tiếng Dân. Archived version.
Articles published by Doan Bao Chau, The New York Times, Archived version.
Thailand: Don’t Return Montagnard Activist to Vietnam, Human Rights Watch, June 13, 2024. Archived version.
Những suy nghĩ về việc của Huy Đức, Báo Tiếng Dân, June 4, 2024. Archived version.
Pham Doan Trang profile. Project88. Archived version.
Truong Minh Duc profile. Project88. Archived version.
Nguyen Van Tuc profile. Project88. Archived version.
Dao Quang Thuc profile. Project88. Archived version.
Dang Thi Hue profile. Project88. Archived version.
Video interviews human rights lawyers—Trinh Vinh Phuc, Dang Dinh Manh, and Tuan Ngo, Doan Bao Chau’s Facebook page, March 16, 2021.
Video interviews Nguyen Hoang Anh about journalist Pham Doan Trang, Doan Bao Chau’s Facebook page, November 1, 2021.
Dong Tam village: Anger in Vietnam over deadly 'land grab' raid, BBC, January 16, 2020, Archived version.
Vô pháp sao gọi là có... "lý tưởng"?!, Công An Nhân Dân online, December 07, 2020. Archived version.
Video interviews families of political prisoners about harsh living conditions at Prison No. 6 in Nghe An province, Doan Bao Chau’s Facebook page, June 29, 2019.
Video interviews Dang Thi Hue, a former political prisoner, Doan Bao Chau’s Facebook page, April 21, 2019.
Video interviews people about human rights in Vietnam, Doan Bao Chau’s Facebook page, April 7, 2019.
Mien Nho (Vietnamese Edition) Paperback, Amazon, March 31, 2016. Archived version.
30 Tháng 4 – Ngày Hội Thống Nhất Non Sông, Nhân Văn Việt, May 31, 2021. Archived version.
Đoàn Bảo Châu Xuyên Tạc Công Cuộc Phòng, Chống Tiêu Cực, Tham Nhũng, Nhân Văn Việt, January 22, 2022. Archived version.
Books published by Doan Bao Chau; photo provided to Project88 by Doan Bao Chau
June 19, 2024: summoned for questioning by police
both judicial/extrajudicial
Unknown
No
No
On June 19, 2024, the Hanoi Security Investigation Agency issued Doan Bao Chau a summons. He was told to come to the police station on June 21, 2024, to discuss an investigation by the Department of Cyber Security and Hi-Tech Crime Prevention into videos he had published on Facebook. Chau was in Hue City when the summons was issued, however, so he could not comply. He instead went to the police station as soon as he could, on June 24, 2024.
On June 24, Chau was interrogated continuously for 9.5 hours. During the interrogation, he was accused of publishing five videos that spread misinformation in violation of the 2018 Cyber Security Law. While in custody, Chau was forced to sign a document admitting that he was the creator of those videos. He was not allowed to keep a copy of that document.
The five videos at issue are:
1. On March 16, 2021, Doan Bao Chau interviewed three human rights lawyers—Trinh Vinh Phuc, Dang Dinh Manh, and Tuan Ngo—on Dong Tam, a deadly land dispute incident that took place in 2020. This video has more than 35,000 views.
2. On November 1, 2021, Chau interviewed Nguyen Hoang Anh, head of the ABG Leadership Education Programme. In the interview, Anh shared her views on prominent journalist Pham Doan Trang and provided an overview of Trang’s trial.
3. On June 29, 2019, Chau interviewed families of political prisoners about harsh living conditions at Prison No. 6 in Nghe An province. He interviewed Nguyen Kim Thanh, wife of journalist Truong Minh Duc; Bui Thi Re, wife of Nguyen Van Tuc; and Dao Duy Tung, son of Dao Quang Thuc. In the video, those interviewed asserted that their family members were tortured in prison. More than 54,000 people viewed the video.
4. On April 21, 2019, Chau interviewed Dang Thi Hue, a former political prisoner, about her experience being harassed, attacked, and beaten-- while pregnant, by plainclothes police after she engaged in peaceful activism.
5. On April 7, 2019, Chau interviewed people about human rights in Vietnam and, more specifically children’s rights, women’s rights, and labor rights. The speakers included Dinh Ngoc Tuyet (aka Vinh Vy Van Viet), a member of the Vietnam Women's Human Rights Association, an organization that works to protect female prisoners and monitor sexual violations against children and women; Nguyen My Hanh, the founder and executive director of the Vietnam Coalition Against Torture; Vu Quoc Ngu, the director of Defend the Defenders, an NGO working on human rights in Vietnam; and Doan Huy Chuong, the co-founder of the Viet Labor Movement. The video was viewed 55,000 times.
During the interrogation, Chau was told he could not travel abroad. When he was released, police officers told Chau they would issue a new summons for another interrogation soon. Under fear of imminent arrest, Chau went into hiding.
In January 2025, Chau wrote that his life might be in danger, but he did not elaborate. Chau wrote a scathing "apology" to the Vietmamese police to emphasize that he did not do anything illegal and is only speaking the truth.
Profile last updated: 2025-01-15 21:50:44